2017:775 - DUBLIN AIRPORT NORTH RUNWAY PROJECT—Excavation of Site D, Barberstown, Dublin

Site D is located within the proposed development area of the North Runway Project at Dublin Airport in the townland of Barberstown. The site was identified during advance archaeological investigations which included non-invasive geophysical survey by Target Geophysics (16R0097) and archaeological test-trenching (16E0335) by Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy.

Excavation of this site comprising a linear ditch and kiln identified during the earlier test-trenching was undertaken between 18 May and 2 June 2017. The ditch was exposed in two sections and was aligned north-east/south-west and measured some 70m in overall length but with a small gap approximately mid-way along its length. Charcoal recovered from a lower fill (F5) of this ditch (F4) dated this feature from the 7th-9th century AD. Finds from the fill of the ditch included three iron knife fragments and eight sherds of 12th/13th-century Dublin-type fabrics. The pottery recovered was significantly later in date than the radiocarbon date. The pottery was recovered from the main fill (F3) of the ditch (F4). This sealed the fill (F5) from which the radiocarbon date was obtained and would suggest that the ditch feature was recut and re-utilized at a later stage in the early medieval/medieval period. The kiln was identified and excavated near the northern extent of the site, where it had been cut by the aforementioned ditch. It therefore pre-dated the ditch. The kiln would be typical, however, of simple earth-cut early medieval kilns.