This book continues the excellent series of TII publications, publishing the results of excavations undertaken as part of the construction of the Irish road network. Like some previous volumes, this one discusses the findings chronologically, providing a description of the area during the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, early medieval, Anglo-Norman, and early modern periods. The geographical focus of this book is the area around Dundalk, the excavations discussed were for the M1 Dundalk bypass. This is a rich archaeological landscape and the findings presented here considerably enhance our knowledge of that landscape in all periods of history.
The first period discussed was the Neolithic, with major discoveries of buildings and hearths at Donaghmore 1, Littlemill 1 and Faughart Lower 5. There were also stones with megalithic art reused in an early medieval souterrain. One of the most interesting sites was the ceremonial landscape at Balregan; this was a complex including an embarked enclosure, lost standing stones and the largest collection of Neolithic pottery in Ireland. Evidence for Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement (Chapter 3) was uncovered at Donaghmore 1 and Newtownbalregan. There was also an extensive funerary complex at Carn More, which proved a valuable contribution to the corpus of Irish Bronze Age sites. Iron Age activity (Chapter 4) was limited, with evidence of a ring ditch at Donaghmore and a cereal drying kiln at Balriggan.
Early medieval (Chapter 5) rath and souterrain complexes were excavated at Carn More and Newtownbalriggan, while a settlement-cemetery, mill, and industrial site were found at Balriggan. These provide significant insight into life at this time. The later medieval period (Chapter 6) was confined to the excavation of Fort Hill revealed an Anglo-Norman earthwork castle. Chapter 7 summarises evidence from early modern activity in the area, primarily from the 19th century. This included part of a railway embankment, a flour mill, and a farm cottage. More recent heritage is often overlooked in such reports, so it is good to see it included in this volume.
The appendices contain tables of the radiocarbon dates from all the sites and details of the Bronze Age burials from Carn More 5 and 6.
This book provides an accessible overview of the results from excavations, similar to the previous TII publications. This makes it highly user-friendly and a great resource for archaeologists. The division of the results by period makes it significantly more useful than volumes that are organised by site. Throughout the volume there are boxes and sections which look at certain aspects in more detail or discuss how a discovery fits into the wider context; these are very informative and help to make this volume of use to a much wider audience.
The volume can be accessed online via the Digital Repository of Ireland.