2025:635 - St Michael’s School, Blackland, Skerries, Dublin
County: Dublin
Site name: St Michael’s School, Blackland, Skerries
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: 25E0054
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit Ltd
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth. A92 DH99.
Site type: Ditch
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 725835m, N 756595m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.544194, -6.101307
Two features were identified (C3 and C7). The shallow linear feature (C3) was initially identified during testing. It was re-exposed and fully excavated. C3 was a shallow, heavily truncated ditch that contained two flint flakes, one chert flake and 3 small fragments of burnt bone. The burnt bone fragments were indeterminate and unsuitable for radiocarbon dating. A bulk soil sample was also taken, but no dateable material was recovered. The relatively sterile fill of this feature, coupled with the lack of dateable artefacts and the stone-metalled surface, could suggest a prehistoric date, but the exact function remains unclear.
The drainage ditch (C7) cut through C3. A sherd of post-medieval black-glazed earthenware was recovered from this feature and deemed non-archaeological.
No additional archaeological features were identified across the site. Works are now complete, and no further mitigation works are required.