2018:892 - Commons, Duleek, Meath

Archaeological excavations were carried out at Commons, Duleek, Co. Meath at the site of a proposed residential development. The excavations were undertaken in October 2018. There are nine recorded archaeological sites within 250m of the proposed development area, the nearest being the town of Duleek (ME027-038) 125m to the south-west. Monitoring on the site was ongoing intermittently from September 2018 to May 2019 as the development progressed.

Excavations followed on from a programme of testing undertaken in August 2018 under the same licence, that identified four features pf archaeological potential. These features consisted of a large pit/kiln and three linear features. Testing indicated that the linear features could possibly represent two linear boundary ditches. These are thought to be agricultural in origin and not of archaeological significance. Monitoring covered most the of the development area and concluded with nothing further of archaeological significance revealed.

Excavations uncovered the remains of an isolated kiln (C10), consisting of two chambers. A number of large stones were found in the centre of the cut, and possibly formed a boundary within the kiln. Burnt stone was noted in several of the fills, suggestive of burning events. Most sides of the kiln were oxidised consistent with the burning activity noted in the fills. There were no artefactual remains retrieved from this feature. However, a radiocarbon date obtained from one of the wheat seeds in fill C4 dated the kiln to the late medieval period (AD 1419 – 1479). A sample of glume wheat was recovered from one of the fills, which might indicate the kiln was used to prepare malt. This possibly indicated that older wheat species were still in cultivation during the medieval period.

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