AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

Louth
Two souterrains were associated with Phase III. Souterrain 1 was of dry-stone construction
and consisted of a short curving upper passage which led to a lower passage and a circular
corbelled chamber. It was situated outside the Phase I and Phase II enclosures, but within
the final enclosure, so may be contemporary with the latter. The second souterrain was
situated 40m to the north-west of Souterrain 1. It consisted of a long earth-cut passageway,
which contained three major bends, before it reached a large round corbelled chamber. Other
features included a trap-like feature, a drop-hole and a small side chamber. Three artefacts
were retrieved from the first stretch of the passageway and included an iron stick pin, a
decorated bronze stick pin and an iron needle. The middle part of the souterrain produced a
sharpening stone, flint waster, iron fragments, human bone (probably from disturbed burials)
and a decorated bronze toilet implement. Souterrain 2 definitely post-dated the second
enclosure because it cut into the backfilled ditch, while it ran parallel with the Enclosure III
ditch which suggests the latter was already in existence when the souterrain was constructed.
A fragment of souterrain ware was recovered in a context that post-dated Enclosure II and
this pottery generally dates between the eighth and tenth centuries. The presence of two
stick pins, one a club-headed type, also shows that Souterrain II was open between the mid
eleventh and thirteenth centuries. The lack of late medieval pottery from the site strongly
indicates that the earlier date range should be favoured. Therefore, when the artefactual
evidence is combined with the Enclosure III radiocarbon date, the final phase at Millockstown
probably occurred between the eighth and eleventh centuries.
Other archaeological features on the site included two pits, which have been ascribed to
Phase III, and possible cultivation furrows although the latter’s date are uncertain.
Fig. 228: Plan of Millockstown, Co. Louth (after Manning 1986, 139).
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