2022:739 - Profile Park, Kilbride, Co. Dublin., Dublin

Archaeological excavation took place of a segmented enclosure and associated features at Profile Park, Kilbride, Dublin. The site is located within Profile Park, north of Baldonnell Casement Aerodrome, on lands adjacent to and south of an internal Profile Park Road.  The nearest monument is Castle DU021-004, located 0.43m south of the site. In addition, there are no Protected Structures listed within the South Dublin County Council Development Plan 2016-2022 located within the site. The nearest such structure is Stone Church (Ruin) & Graveyard, Ringfort (Rath/Cashel), Earthwork(s) (RM) (RPS ID 184), which is also a recorded monument DU021- 005001-003, located c. 0.5m to the southeast of the site.
Targeted test trenching was carried out on 28 June 2021. This series of test trenches was informed by a geophysical survey conducted by ACSU in May and June 2020 under licence 20R0080. Archaeological test trenching confirmed the results of the geophysical survey. It succeeded in identifying the remains of an oval/circular enclosure (Anomaly D) measuring c. 40m in diameter.
Archaeological excavation was carried out between 17 January and 28 March 2022. Eight archaeological features were identified during excavation. The site was cleaned by hand and features were investigated. The site was dominated by three large features: segmented enclosure C3, curvilinear feature C5 and linear feature C7. In addition, several smaller features were also identified. These included linear feature C41 and pits C20, C21, C22, and C34.
C3 was a large sub-circular segmented enclosure. The enclosure had an external diameter of 37m north-south by 34.2m. It had an internal diameter of 33.4m north-south by 29.5m. No internal features were identified. It was truncated on both the eastern and western sides by curvilinear feature C5 and linear feature C7. The enclosure appeared to have three distinct segments, which were identified by the termini between them as well as differences in profile and deposits. These segments were labelled as C3a (at the west and south sides), C3b (northwest) and C3c (north and east sides). A large quantity of Late Bronze Age pottery was recovered from the fills of the enclosure. However, radiocarbon dating places it in the Early Iron Age.
Due to the lack of internal features the exact purpose of the enclosure is unknown. Enclosures during the prehistoric period have varying functions such as the defence of settlements, defining a ritual space, animal enclosures, or as part of funerary monuments. Generally, the function can be interpreted based on associated features such as cremation/inhumation burials, post-hole and/or slot trenches suggestive of domestic activity. However, no such evidence was found at Profile Park. It is possible that there were internal features within the enclosure, and these were truncated or removed by the later east-west running medieval linear ditches. However, a significant portion of the internal surface was unaffected by these features. One possibility is that the interior was either a sacred space that was separated from the outside world by the enclosure ditch or that the interior was a place to be set aside from the normal everyday world. Another possibility is that it was an enclosure to secure animals which would explain the lack of features.

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