Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated under Poulawack cairn (CL009-032002-), on the bedrock outcrop surface immediately SE of the cairn’s inner revetment. Excavated by the Third Harvard Archaeological Expedition in Ireland, under Hugh O’Neill Hencken (Hencken and Movius 1935), who subsequently restored the cairn. This crouched inhumation (‘Grave 1’ in Hencken’s schema) is composed of the very poorly preserved remains of an adult male, buried in a contracted position, lying on the right side and facing W (Hencken and Movius 1935, 198). The burial was partly covered by horizontal limestone slabs. Immediately to the N–NE there were five upright slabs (H c. 0.3–0.6m; L c. 0.4m; T c. 0.1m), four of which formed a NW–SE row. It is unclear whether these slabs are the remains of an irregular cist (Hencken and Movius 1935, 198; Ryan 1981, 134). The burial has been radiocarbon dated to 1486–1452 cal BC (Brindley and Lanting 1992). This falls within the final broad phase of mortuary activity at Poulawack cairn, during the mid-second millennium BC, when the 'Grave 2' and 'Grave 3' cists (CL009-032013- and CL009-032014-) were also constructed, and possibly also the 'Grave 7' cist (CL009-0032018-) (ibid.) although the evidence for the latter’s date is equivocal.

The following image has been uploaded:
CL009-032012-_01.jpg Grave 1 from SE with inner revetment behind (Hencken and Movius 1935, Pl. XIX, Fig. 1)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 12 January 2022

References

Brindley, A. and Lanting, J. 1992 Radiocarbon dates from the cemetery at Poulawack, Co. Clare. Journal of Irish Archaeology 6, 13–17.

Hencken, H. and Movius, H. L. 1935 A cairn at Poulawack County Clare: with a report on the human remains. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 5, 191–222.

Ryan, M. 1981 Poulawack, Co. Clare: the affinities of the central burial structure. In D. Ó Corráin (ed.), Irish antiquity: essays and studies presented to M.J. O'Kelly, 134-46. Cork. Tower Books.