EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
layer of fire-reddened or burnt clay and pottery, a clay mould and two pieces of iron slag
were recovered from its fills indicating further industrial activity. A number of pits were
associated with Phase III and one contained iron slag, a sherd of pottery and a number of
pot-boiler stones. The occurrence of the latter and bone fragments suggests that some of the
dumped material originated from a domestic source.
2. Inland Promontory Fort
Excavation of the western half of Platin Fort (consisting of a substantial west–east-aligned
rock outcrop covering an area approximately two acres and surviving up to 10m above the
surrounding landscape) – in advance of the M1 road-scheme – revealed a middle Iron Age
burial and a Neolithic spread. This area had been badly damaged by quarrying and, as a
result, no enclosing earthworks were present. Early medieval occupational evidence was
lacking but tentative indicators included lignite bracelet fragments, a stone bead and a ringed
pin which were retrieved from the topsoil.
Test excavations to the south and north of the fort also failed to reveal settlement evidence
but the remains of at least two cereal-drying kilns were revealed to the north and one has
been dated between the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Fig. 245: Plan of Structures at Platin, Co. Meath (after Lynch 2002).
Fig. 245: Plan of Structures at Platin, Co. Meath (after Lynch 2002).
References:
Conway, M. 2001:1019. Platin Fort, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Lynch, R. 2000:0774. Platin, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Lynch, R. 2001:1022. Duleek Road, Platin, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Lynch, R. 2002. Stratigraphic report on an archaeological excavation at Site 22, Northern
motorway, contract 7, Platin, Co. Meath. Unpub’d IAC Report.
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