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This is a final report of an archaeological excavation at Phoenixtown 3 which was located on the route of the M3 Navan–Kells & Kells Bypass (Archaeological Services Contract 4) of the M3 Clonee–North of Kells Motorway Scheme, County Meath. The excavation was carried out by Ed Lyne of Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd on behalf of Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority. The work was carried out under Ministerial Direction No. A029/012 and National Monuments Service (NMS) Excavation Registration No. E3130 which were received from the DoEHLG in consultation with the National Museum of Ireland. The fieldwork took place between 9 November 2006 – 9 February 2007. A total area of 5500m2 was opened around Phoenixtown 3 to reveal the archaeological features that were identified at the site during archaeological testing under licence 04E0923. This site was made up of two separate areas c. 70m apart on opposite slopes of a gentle hill, and on either side of a standing field boundary (Figures 1 and 2). Area A was to the south-east and Area B was to the north-west. Area A was a very large area measuring approximately 100m x 45m, within which were some dispersed archaeological features with wide ranging dates. On the initial clean back some fragments of a middle Neolithic Broad-Rimmed Bowl were recovered from a topsoil context, however they do not appear to be related to the other finds from this area. At the south-east end of the area a few possible postholes or pits were excavated, but produced no datable finds and were not arranged in any obvious pattern. Moving north-west from here, the next feature encountered was a modern ditch running east–west across the area, and dated securely by modern pottery finds. Further north-west, more or less in the centre of the area opened, two very shallow and irregular pits were excavated which produced sherds of very finely decorated early Bronze Age food vessel pottery and returned a date range of 1745–1628 BC. Further to the north-west the final set of features encountered in Area A consisted of a narrow and shallow ditch running east–west across the site, terminating in a series of large pits to its eastern end. What few finds were encountered in these features appeared to be medieval in date, and consisted of various sherds of pottery. A date returned from one of the pits suggests that some of these features were in fact post- medieval however, and therefore they post-date the established medieval activity at Phoenixtown 2, c. 150m away to the south-east (Plate 3). Area B consisted of a circle of postholes flanked by curvilinear gullies, and with an entrance to the south-east. This structure measured 10m in diameter. The interior of the structure was divided by a cluster of 40 stakeholes which may have served as a partition dividing the interior from the entrance area. A series of dates from the structure ranged from between c. 1500–1300 BC, and point to a likely construction date of between 1450 and 1400 BC. Also uncovered was a linear pit or ditch c. 14m in length and 2m wide running north–south situated 11m to the south-east of the entrance to the structure. Both the linear feature and a number of the postholes that defined the structure produced numerous sherds of middle Bronze Age domestic pottery. Other finds included a bowl shaped stone recovered from the fill of a pit inside the entrance, which may have been a mortar although it showed little sign of ware (E3130:1048:1). A possible saddle quern fragment was also found in topsoil during cleaning back, although if this is a saddle quern it has only been minimally used. A small number of flints were recovered from the site, with the bulk of the assemblage consisting of flint debitage recovered during soil processing of fill C1115 of pit C1110. In conclusion, Phoenixtown 3 consisted of two separate areas of archaeological activity, on opposite slopes of a gentle hill, and on either side of a standing field boundary. Area A comprised a series of features of wide ranging dates, early Bronze Age, medieval and post-medieval. These features were either poorly defined or of relatively little archaeological interest. Conversely, Area B consisted of a coherent series of significant prehistoric features. A well-defined circular structure and associated settlement activity excavated at Phoenixtown 3B, comprised a middle Bronze Age residence of some archaeological significance, certainly at a local level. Along with other middle Bronze Age structures excavated on the M3 at Boyerstown 3, Grange 3 and Kilmainham 1A it adds greatly to our knowledge of the settlement pattern and population level of this region during that period. Furthermore, in addition to the two houses excavated at Grange 3 it expands southward the distribution of Carlin’s Type B middle Bronze Age roundhouse, previously only recorded at Corrstown, Co Antrim (Conway, Gahan and Rathbone, 2004/2005) and at Cappagh Beg, Co Derry (Linnane, 2003), (Carlin 2006, 22).