Burnt mound

The National Monuments Service's description

The excavated site (Thaddeus C. Breen, Licence No. 01E0479: www.excavations.ie) was a low, oval mound, 10-16m in diameter and 0.9m high, is in a boggy area on the line of the Kildare bypass. It was made up of five layers. Under an upper layer of grass-covered peat was a dark peaty layer containing a large quantity of burnt stone (75% sandstone, 25% limestone). Over much of the mound this overlay a deposit of white clay, similar to the natural marl which occurs under the peat, containing cremated bone. Under this was the layer which made up the bulk of the mound material: charcoal-rich soil, containing some lumps of charcoal, with pieces of burnt stone (equal quantities of limestone and sandstone). At least seventeen horizontal bands could be discerned within this deposit in the section. Below this was a layer of silty peat with some charcoal and burnt stone (mostly sandstone). This lay directly on the natural peat. Three metres to the south-west of the mound, about 0.1m below the surface of the natural peat, a further deposit of burnt stone was found. The deposit had been truncated by road construction operations but an area measuring 6m by 3m survived. The deposit (context 9) consisted of grey clay with pieces of burnt stone (60% limestone, 40% sandstone) and charcoal. Some burnt bone was present, and a large number of unburnt cattle bones. This overlay a layer of soft clay containing rounded pieces of unburnt limestone, forming a crude cobbled surface (context 26). Along its eastern edge was a thicker layer of grey clay, without stones but with a few lengths of wood at intervals along the surface (context 34). Both burnt and unburnt bones were found in this layer. Set into this context was an oval deposit of white clay, about 0.7m by 0.5 in diameter, wrapped in a thin covering of bark. This resembled the white marl in the nearby mound, and likewise contained cremated bone. Immediately under it was a sherd of pottery which has been identified as Early Neolithic. Further sherds of the same pottery were found in contexts 9, 26 and 34, and one sherd was found under the nearby mound. A leaf-shaped flint arrowhead and some waste flakes were found in context 26.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 23 November 2011