Flat cemetery

The National Monuments Service's description

The site was excavated by Emer Dennehy (02E0576) during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along Section 3 of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West. 'This site included 34 contexts, with two phases and eight cremation burials. Time constraints meant that an extensive search for burnt bone was unfeasible; therefore, all contexts were sampled in bulk, to be sieved during post-excavation work.
The first phase constitutes the main use on the site, containing the eight cremation burials evident on-site. All are subcircular in plan, with an average diameter of 0.35m and an average depth of 0.22m. All of the cremations contained black silty clay with burnt bone inclusions. The second phase comprised two conjoined pits, which cut through two of the earlier cremations. Both were filled with grey clay and contained small quantities of charcoal and burnt bone. The similarity of the fills made it impossible to determine which pit cut the other. Two pits were present in the south-east of the site. Both were shallow and contained silty, sandy clay with orange, natural mottling. The presence of a number of cremations indicates that the site was a flat cemetery in use over an extended period of time. The presence of the marker post (No. 1201 above, 02E0575) to the north-east indicates that it was a designated and recognised burial area. Flat cemeteries are known to date to the Bronze Age, which allows us to give a preliminary date to the site before pending charcoal and burnt bone analysis.' The above description is posted on the web at the following internet address: http://www.excavations.ie/ (accessed 22 August 2012).

Compiled by: Denis Power

Date of upload: 22 August 2012