County: Louth Site name: Cornamucklagh 1-3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: near LH002-001002 Licence number: E004498
Author: Fintan Walsh
Site type: Flint spread, burnt mound, early med. industrial
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 712572m, N 818964m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.107410, -6.278510
Excavation was carried out at Cornamucklagh 1 to 3 in advance of the Narrow Water Bridge Project, Co. Louth. The work was undertaken on behalf of Louth County Council and it took place from 1-12 July and on 31 July 2013. The sites were initally identified during testing carried out in June 2013 (Delaney 2013; Ministerial Direction No.: E4491, A064). Testing followed on from a geophysical survey which was undertaken by J.M. Leigh Surveys in 2010 (Leigh 2010; Detection Licence No. 10R128). Nothing of archaeological significance was identified at any of the identified geophysical anomalies during testing.
Cornamucklagh 1 comprised of a very irregular cut and spread of charcoal-rich silts and sands, which contained a relatively large number of lithics (75) including two possible late Mesolithic ‘butt-trimmed’ flakes from the interface of the plough soil and natural gravels. Cornamucklagh 2 may represent the remains of a burnt mound and comprised of a large pit containing charcoal-rich sands and heat-fractured stone with associated shallow spreads. Cornamucklagh 3 was an early medieval industrial site which includes two cereal-drying kilns, a metalworking area, a series of pits of various sizes, spreads, a hardened deposit cut by a post-hole line and an overlying spread of charcoal-rich sands which covered the majority of the excavation area. This site is within 180m of an early medieval monastery (LH002-001002) and these newly discovered features may be directly associated with this important ecclesiastical site.
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