In advance of the construction of a Nursing School at Dundalk Institute of Technology, a prehistoric activity site was identified and excavated, in a townland well known for its early medieval archaeology. The c. 25m x 20m site yielded a main phase of prehistoric activity: several firepits filled with burnt mound material, a small natural hollow or ‘pond’ whose base and lip were metalled along one side, several post and stakeholes, and a number of irregular pits and spreads containing sediment. In all, fifty-six lithics were found in the various features. Spatially, the main portion of the site (two firepits, postholes, stakeholes, pits, natural hollow/?trough) was centrally located, with two firepits some 5–10m to the southwest and other remains some 5–10m to the northeast. All four of the firepits exhibited evidence for in situ burning. Most of the finds came from the grey silt clay sediment deposits. Two overlapping radiocarbon dates give an Early Bronze Age time span for the use of the site of c. 2470–2330 BC.
The layout and form of the site, while not conforming to a readily identifiable typology—e.g. a horseshoe-shaped fualcht fiadh mound—are nevertheless similar to the findings at other rather unprepossessing Earl Bronze Age sites. They appear to represent a glimpse of the ‘vernacular landscape’ of that era: places where a variety of relatively everyday (or seasonal?) activities, relating to a very simple ‘hot stone’ technology, were undertaken. At Marshes Upper, this occurred in flat, probably boggy, lands not far from the coast.
The site consisted of a group of four firepits: one with two probable stakeholes nearby, perhaps representing a windbreak or a spit apparatus. The largest firepit is flanked by a shallow pit, three probable stakeholes, and three slightly more substantial postholes. Again, these stake- and postholes may be the remains of a windbreak or other fire-related apparatus. The substantial amount of fire-cracked stone indicated deliberate heating of stone in all four firepits, but no fulacht fiadh trough survived, unless the natural, water-retaining hollow or ‘pond’ nearby (6.15m x 3.30m x 0.45m deep) served as a makeshift trough. The metalling along one end of the pond included fire-cracked stone in its make-up, although no evidence survived of lining or any other structure in the pond. Also the absence of (dumped) fire-cracked stone recovered from the pond’s lower laminate fill of puddle sediment and peat complicates an interpretation of the pond as a make-shift trough, although worked flint in this fill suggests it is roughly contemporary to the other features. Much of the fire-cracked micaceous sandstone—distinct from the greywacke/metasiltstone present in the natural subsoil—was over 0.04–0.05m in size, irregularly-shaped and not fully shattered, suggesting that it may instead have been used in an ‘earth oven’, a dry variant of a fulacht trough (J. Ó Néill, pers. comm.; Waddell 1998, 175). Both of the larger and more central firepits (1.38m diam. x 0.32m deep; 1.38 x 0.87 x 0.20m deep) are reasonable candidates for such activity. The scarcity of charcoal in the ‘burnt mound material’ fills of these two features particularly, in combination with the prevalence of ashy precipitate sediments across the site, may be taken as an indicator that fuel was allowed to reduce completely in situ, as might be expected with such clamped ovens. The burnt plant remains that did survive were analysed by Penny Johnston and Lorna O’Donnell: the fuel for the firepits was predominantly alder and hazel, with oak and ‘pomaceous fruitwood’ (apple, pear or hawthorn) also present. The wood used was young, as might be expected for the most effective tinder, and probably freshly collected.
Lithics, analysed by Conor Brady, confirm a Neolithic/Early Bronze Age origin for the site. The assemblage indicates that the production (17.8% of the assemblage) and the use of tools (25%, including a leaf-shaped arrowhead, a convex scraper, a scraper, and other retouched tools), as well as the discard of waste material, all occurred on the site. Much of the assemblage was expedient in nature—with evidence for the use of the bipolar reduction technique—and exploited small, poor quality and curated raw material. Other features on the site include several spreads and small irregular pits, some indicating the former presence of small trees or bushes, but all containing a similar precipitate sediment fill of grey silt clay with charcoal and occasional worked flint inclusions. These fills formed by the settling of silt in puddles in low-lying places, perhaps with firepit ash or rake-out dumped into them. Apart from their ash content, the nature of some of these silting fills is similar to that observed elsewhere in the vicinity, but dating to different eras: Early Christian (Gowen 1992: 65), and medieval/post-medieval (Mossop 2002: 9). They varying dates for similar silting fills bear witness to the similar site transformation processes taking place in this part of the townland, at least up until the main phase of drainage and land improvement in the 18th century AD. The site was overlain by remnant agricultural features from this later post-medieval era.
References Gowen, M. 1992. Excavation of two souterrain complexes at Marshes Upper, Dundalk, Co. Louth. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 92C: 55–121. Mossop, M. 2002. Archaeological monitoring and investigations, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Co. Louth (Licence 02E008). Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services. Waddell, J. 1998. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland. Dublin: Wordwell.
