2020:445 - Newtown, Kill, Kildare

Archaeological monitoring of the groundworks for a residential development took place in fulfilment of a condition of planning permission. The c. 6.5ha site lies in Newtown townland on the southern outskirts of the village of Kill, Co. Kildare. The site comprised two fields in rough pasture and had been subject to earlier assessments. As the location of a former quarry, large parts of the western field were deemed to contain no surviving archaeological potential and excluded from further investigations. Archaeological monitoring of the geotechnical investigations took place in January 2020 while the remaining period of topsoil stripping was undertaken on 19 October – 1 December 2020. Two areas of archaeology, c. 20m distant, were identified in the south-eastern field during the course of the monitoring. Area A comprised a shallow pit and short linear feature with charcoal-flecked fills c. 1.5 m apart. Two fragments of pottery from the fill of the short linear feature could only be identified as prehistoric. Charred grains retrieved from the pit were dominated by barley. Area B contained two pits, one a probable hearth with four post-holes nearby indicating a possible structure. Beaker pottery sherds from a total of six vessels, including a piece from a polypod bowl, were retrieved from two of the post-holes, from one of the pits and from the clean-back of the Area. Small fragments of indeterminate burnt bone and charred grains dominated by wheat were retrieved from the soil samples. A modest assemblage of flint flakes were retrieved from the clean-back of the Area with a single flake from a post-hole. A fragment of charcoal retrieved from the fill of a post-hole returned a radiocarbon date of 2450-2140 BC cal. 2δ (UBA-44665; 3832 +/- 28 BP) confirming activity here from the Chalcolithic or Beaker period.

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