County: Meath Site name: Staleen and Roughgrange
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 18E0342
Author: David McIlreavy, IAC Ltd
Site type: Burnt mounds and pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 702807m, N 771986m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.687465, -6.443536
Excavations were carried out in the townlands of Stalleen and Roughgrange in Co. Meath following the identification of two sites of archaeological significance during monitoring of topsoil stripping within the wayleave for Staleen Raw Water Rising Mains Replacement Scheme. The pipeline scheme traversed the townlands of Stalleen and Roughgrange in Co. Meath, to the east and south-east of the River Boyne. The topography of the study area is dominated by the river valley, with lands rising steeply to the east, towards Redmountain.
Excavations at Stalleen and Roughgrange revealed the remains of two truncated burnt mound sites within the wayleave of a pipeline scheme. Some diagnostic lithic artefacts, retrieved from topsoil during work on the pipeline, also indicate earlier activity from the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in the vicinity of the site.
A spread of burnt mound material was excavated at Stalleen (Site 1) forming the periphery of a burnt mound that extended outside the pipeline wayleave, to the north-east.
A burnt mound was excavated at Roughgrange (Site 2) comprising a truncated burnt mound deposit that overlay three sub-circular pits and three sub-rectangular troughs. The three sub-circular pits occupied the highest topographical point in the area of excavation. The absence of in-situ burning in these features suggests that they were not roasting pits, but there are no obvious indications of their function. The three sub-rectangular troughs all had roughly the same morphology, with steep sides and flat basal profiles. The remains of heavily decayed wooden planks were evident in one trough, C210. Radiocarbon dates from Roughgrange suggests activity in the Early Bronze Age and these are consistent with the early phases of activity at burnt mounds excavated elsewhere.
The nearest excavated examples of burnt mounds were found at Sheephouse (three sites), more than 2km to the north-east. Burnt mound sites such as these examples at Stalleen, Roughgrange and Sheephouse play an important role in understanding the complex narrative associated with the prehistoric landscape of Meath, which is often eclipsed by funerary monuments such as Newgrange.
Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
