N2 Monaghan to Emyvale Road Improvement Scheme Drumgeeny 2 Stage (Iii) Excavation Services
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N2 Monaghan to Emyvale Road Improvement Scheme Drumgeeny 2 Stage (iii) excavation services Stage (iv) post-excavation services Client: Monaghan County Council c/o Mr. Oliver Mulligan, Floor 2, MTECH 2 Building, Knocknaconny Industrial Estate Armagh Road, Co. Monaghan. Site: Drumgeeny 2 Licence No: 12E208 Archaeologist: Rob O’Hara Author: Rob O' Hara Report Date: November 2012 Our Ref: 2012_13 N2 Monaghan to Emyvale Road Improvement Scheme Drumgeeny 2 Stage (iii) excavation services Stage (iv) post-excavation services PROJECT NAME N2 Monaghan to Emyvale Road Improvement Scheme MINISTERIAL DIRECTION NO n/a EXCAVATION REGISTRATION NO 12E209 TOWNLAND Drumgeeny SITE Drumgeeny 2 SITE TYPE Fulacht fiadh (disturbed) ING 267176, 339634 CHAINAGE 3450 HEIGHT OD 70m OD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSULTANT Archer Heritage Planning Ltd. EXCAVATION DIRECTOR Rob O’Hara REPORT AUTHOR Rob O’Hara REPORT STATUS Final DATE OF ISSUE November 2012 Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Drumgeeny 2 N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme 12E208 CONTENTS CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................... I SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. IV 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................................................... 1 2. SITE DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 SITE LOCATION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 2.2 RECEIVING ENVIRONMENT ...................................................................................................................... 1 2.3 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................... 2 3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.1 DRUMGEENY 2........................................................................................................................................ 4 4. ARTEFACT CATALOGUE ......................................................................................................................... 6 5. SPECIALIST ANALYSES .......................................................................................................................... 6 6. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................................. 6 7. INVENTORY ................................................................................................................................................ 8 8. DISSEMINATION ........................................................................................................................................ 9 9. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 10 9.1 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 10 9.2 UNPUBLISHED REPORTS ....................................................................................................................... 11 9.3 WEB REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 11 10. GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................................. 12 11. APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 13 11.1 LIST OF FEATURES .............................................................................................................................. 13 11.2 LIST OF DRAWINGS ............................................................................................................................. 13 11.3 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS ...................................................................................................................... 13 11.4 LIST OF SAMPLES ................................................................................................................................ 13 11.5 LIST OF ARTEFACTS ............................................................................................................................ 13 11.6 LIST OF SITE RECORDS ....................................................................................................................... 14 11.7 CHARCOAL IDENTIFICATION (E LLEN OC ARROLL ) ............................................................................... 15 11.8 RADIOCARBON DATING ....................................................................................................................... 27 RADIOCARBON DATING CERTIFICATE ......................................................................................... 27 12. NRA DATABASE .................................................................................................................................... 29 13. EXCAVATIONS SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 30 i Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Drumgeeny 2 N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme 12E208 List of Tables Table 1: Sites identified along the N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme Table 2: Previous Bronze Age excavations around Monaghan Town (from www.excavations.ie ) Table 3: Stratigraphical information from Drumgeeny 2 1 List of Figures Figure 1 Site location Figure 2 Detailed site location Figure 3 Record of Monuments and Places Figure 4 Excavation details Figure 5 Sections List of Plates Plate 1: F12, F17 & F3 from east Plate 2: F7, F9 & F14 from west Plate 3: F13/16 & F15/F17 south facing section Plate 4: Oak plank (F16), in-situ Plate 5: F8 & F9, east facing section Plate 6: F4 & F5 east facing section ii Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Drumgeeny 2 N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme 12E208 SUMMARY This report has been prepared by Archer Heritage Planning Ltd for Monaghan County Council. It outlines the final results of Stage (iii) and Stage (iv) archaeological services at Drumgeeny 2 in advance of the N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme, Co. Monaghan. Excavation of the scheme was undertaken in July 2012 by Rob O’Hara of Archer Heritage Planning Ltd under licence (12E208) from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) in consultation with the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). Stage (i) & (ii) services (O’Hara 2012a) had previously identified a disturbed fulacht fiadh in Drumgeeny townland (Drumgeeny 2) at ITM 667113, 839638 (77m OD). As a result of excavation and post- excavation analysis, the site has been confirmed as a Middle Bronze Age fulacht fiadh comprising 8 separate features, mainly filled with burnt mound material. Although the burnt mound appears to have been ploughed away, there were four remaining isolated deposits of burnt mound material. The largest of the burnt spreads was adjacent to and west of a pair of pits that probably functioned as troughs, and one of which (F13) appeared to be plank lined. The remaining features, comprised three linear features. The site has been radiocarbon dated to the Middle Bronze Age period (SUERC 42841; 3372 ± 30 BP; 1746–1538 cal. BC (2-sigma) iii Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Drumgeeny 2 N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme 12E208 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS These works were undertaken by Archer Heritage Planning Ltd on behalf of Monaghan County Council and the National Roads Authority. The excavations were carried out under licence to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in consultation with the National Museum of Ireland. The author recognises the contribution or involvement of the following individuals and companies in the successful conclusion of this project. Monaghan County Council (Road Design Office) Mr Oliver Mulligan Ms Roisin Nic an Iarla National Roads Authority (Archaeology) Mr Niall Roycroft Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Mr Ciaran McGuinness Mr Aidan O’Connell Joe Watterson Plant Hire Mr Joe Watterson Landowners Mr James Gillander Specialist Analysis Ms. Ellen O' Carroll (Charcoal Identification) Professor Gordon Cook (Radiocarbon dating - SUERC) iv Archer Heritage Planning Ltd Drumcaw 1 N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme 12E220 1. INTRODUCTION This report has been prepared by Archer Heritage Planning Ltd for Monaghan County Council. It outlines the final results of Stage (iii) and Stage (iv) archaeological services at Drumgeeny 2 in advance of the N2 Emyvale to Monaghan Road Improvement Scheme, Co. Monaghan. Excavation of the scheme was undertaken in July 2012 by Rob O’Hara of Archer Heritage