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Archaeological excavation of a prehistoric site and early medieval enclosure at Rossnaree, Co. Meath, Ireland.

Conor Brady, Department of Humanities, Dundalk Institute of Technology.

The Rossnaree Enclosure,

Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath

Aerial view of the site of the Rossnaree Enclosure, Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath. The site is in the stubble field in the middle of the picture. The enclosure at the bottom is a smaller Early Medieval site.

The first season of this archaeological excavation took place during July 2010 at Rossnaree, Co. Meath, within the buffer zone of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site
, an internationally known archaeological landscape because of its many Neolithic passage tombs and other monuments. The excavation was designed to assess the archaeological potential of and establish a date for geophysical anomalies and surface features which indicate the presence of a large multi-vallate enclosure measuring c.110m N-S by at least 160m E-W at Rossnaree, Co. Meath. While the passage tombs are located on the northern side of the River Boyne, the Rossnaree site is located on the southern side of the river, at a highly significant location within the Brú na Bóinne complex. It marks the point at which the river begins to delineate the famous ‘bend’ of Brú na Bóinne and is located directly to the SW and across the River Boyne from the Knowth passage tomb complex. It sits on a low knoll on the first gravel terrace above the river.

The site was first discovered as a large, dense scatter of worked lithics (chipped stone artefacts, peimarily flint) in the NE corner of a tillage field. The lithics suggested intensive activity, possibly involving residential settlement, broadly dating to the Neolithic (4,000-2,500 cal BC). Multi-method geophysical and topographical survey funded by the
Heritage Council subsequently revealed the presence of the enclosure which has a complex set of internal features and is likely to be multi-phase.

Animal bone was also recovered from the field surface as well as a human tooth which suggests possible ceremonial or funerary activity at the site. There is also a greywacke slab exposed on the surface of the adjacent field which will be investigated further during the excavation. Greywacke was used particularly as the structural stones in the passage tombs built on the N side of the river. Recent geological work on the structural stones of Newgrange and Knowth has demonstrated that the greywacke slabs used are likely to have been transported to Brú na Bóinne from the coast at Clogher Head, Co. Louth, a distance of c. 20km.

This is the first site of its kind to be identified in the Brú na Bóinne area and is additionally significant as it positioned on the S side of the river Boyne. Because of the close association of the lithic scatter, it appears that the enclosure may date from the Neolithic period. Reviews of the evidence for Neolithic enclosures in Ireland suggest that although there are some similarities to Neolithic enclosure sites identified elsewhere, there are no close parallels. The strategic location of the site, the presence of the animal bone in some quantity as well as the human tooth and the greywacke slab all point to a complex set of functions for this site likely to include both a residential habitation element and a more ceremonial element. Investigation of this site, funded by an Archeological Excavation Grant from the Royal Irish Academy Committee for Archaeology, potentially addresses key research questions identified in the
Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site Research Framework, in particular those looking at settlement, the scale of operation of the monument complex, the changing environment and the significance of the River Boyne itself.

To view the slideshow below, click the right arrow below the image and move each image on.