TESTING

The EIS recommended archaeological testing of all known and possible archaeological sites identified. Meath County Council made a commitment at the An Bord Pleanála hearing that archaeological testing of the whole route (including known, presumed and areas of unknown archaeological potential) would be carried out as early as possible in advance of construction. This work would ensure adequate time to excavate and preserve by the recording and publication of any archaeological sites that could not be preserved in situ.

The purpose of the testing was to determine the presence or absence of archaeological features, structures, deposits, artefacts or ecofacts along the whole route. This included the test excavation of known and possible sites identified in the EIS and subsequent studies, and test trenching the remainder of the route with test excavation of any archaeological remains uncovered. Where such archaeological remains were present the testing endeavoured to establish the nature and extent of the archaeological deposits and features present, to allow an assessment to be made of the archaeological impact of the proposed development.

The testing also included assessing a number of rivers and streams crossed by the route by underwater and metal detection survey or wading and metal detection survey.

Archaeologist metal detecting in the River Tolka, near Loughsallagh, Section 1

Archaeological testing took place between March-December 2004. Sections 1-3 were tested by Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd. and Sections 4-5 by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd. Each section of the route was divided into testing areas with the work carried out under licence from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government following consultation with the National Museum of Ireland.

Click to see the technical reports detailing this work as submitted to the National Monuments Section of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the National Museum of Ireland.

Backfilled test trenches crossing disused railway line at Ballybeg, Section 4

Open test trenches at Ross, Section 2

Backfilled test trenches at Dowdstown with River Boyne and Ballinter Bridge from NW, Section 2

Testing generally involved mechanically excavating a 2m wide trench through the already agriculturally disturbed topsoil along the centreline of the route and excavating perpendicular offset trenches to the edge of the landtake every 20m. The patterning of these trenches was calculated to identify all concentrations of archaeological features.

The topsoil was removed to expose the upper surface of archaeological features where present, otherwise the trench simply exposed the upper surface of drift geology underneath topsoil. Once features were identified a limited amount of partial hand excavation was carried out in order to assess the nature and extent of the remains present. Over 300km of trenching has resulted in approximately 10% of the route being opened and archaeologically investigated.

Archaeologist recording a possible Neolithic house at Townparks, Section 4

Archaeologists excavating a trench at Roestown, Section 2

Archaeologist recording features at Rath Hill, Section 1

TESTING RESULTS

The results to date, in terms of both numbers and types of sites, are very much consistent with those from similar schemes nationwide. Approximately 150 archaeological sites have been identified on the whole route, which covers an area of approximately 700ha. 25% of these sites (38) were identified on the Dunshaughlin-Navan section of the route (which is also 25% of the scheme in area). Looking more closely at the 6.5km of the road in proximity to the Hill of Tara, which in area represents 11% of scheme, the numbers are still average with 17 sites representing 11% of the total. These sites vary from a single pit to a complex of enclosures and probable cemeteries dating from the Neolithic to 20th century AD. Such a frequency of archaeological sites is entirely typical for a road scheme of this size. The term 'archaeological site' in general and as applied on this project covers a wide range in terms of size, date, complexity and significance and for this reason it is inappropriate to place too much emphasis on numbers of sites.

Archaeologist examining sherd of neolithic pottery at Townparks, Section 4

Stone culvert at Boyerstown, Section 3

Plano-convex knife recovered from topsoil near possible round house at Boyerstown, Section 3

CORRELATION BETWEEN FIELD SURVEY, GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY AND TEST TRENCHING RESULTS

No ancient archaeological artefacts or features were identified by any of the investigations at the site of the two RMPs in Ross townland impacted by the road [Click here for further information on investigations at Ross]. This was despite opening the trenches to three times the standard size and leaving them open for a number of days. One of the 15 possible sites identified by field survey was revealed to be an archaeological site – a burnt mound at Knocks townland, near Dunshaughlin.

All sites identified as definitely archaeological by the Dunshaughlin-Navan geophysical survey were confirmed by testing. At these sites there was a strong correlation between the features identified in the geophysical survey and those identified in the testing. Six of the 23 areas of potential were shown to be archaeological while the remainder were identified as being either modern or geological features.

Some of the artefacts recovered during testing:

Prehistoric lozenge shaped arrowhead from Knockmark , Section 1

Medieval green glazed pottery jug handle from Garretstown, Section 2

Barbed and tanged flint arrowhead from topsoil adjacent burnt mounds at Calliaghstown, Section 5

ROSS

ROSS, RMP ME038:001 & ROSS / CLOWANSTOWN, RMP ME038:002
Only two RMP sites were identified during the EIS as lying within the landtake of the proposed road: RMP ME038:001, an enclosure site and RMP ME038:002, an adjacent field system. These were crop-marks identified by aerial photography in the 1950s as a circular enclosure and adjacent field-system.

Extract from 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1836), showing location of the RMP sites at Ross and Ross / Clowanstown. The red circle indicates the RMP constraint area around the enclosure site (RMP ME038-001), while the adjacent field system is located within the area outlined in red and marked RMP ME038-002. Neither of the features are depicted on this map and were clearly not visible in the early 19th century landscape. (Map reproduced by courtesy of the Board of Trinity College Dublin)

Both sites are destroyed, with no visible surface trace, and were identified initially from the Cambridge University Collection of aerial photographs [CUCAP AYS 58 crop marks].

Aerial photograph showing the approximate landtake of the proposed road is shown by the two blue lines to either side of the circular enclosure.

The site of the RMP enclosure and field-system at Ross was ploughed at the time of the EIS field survey but a series of walks across the field did not produce any pottery, flint or burnt material. No ancient archaeological artefacts or features were identified by any of the surveys at the site of the two RMPs impacted by the road.

No geological features were identified to explain the cropmarks. Subsequent geophysical survey and a comprehensive programme of archaeological testing failed to produce any archaeological features or artefacts.

Aerial view of test trenches at Ross, Section 2

Aerial view of test trenching in progress at Ross, Section 2

Back to Top