Slab-lined burial

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on the summit of a NE-SW ridge/esker, skirted at W-N-SE by the Belladoan River. This is one of three stone-lined graves (MA021-077001-; MA021-077002-; MA021-077003-) found at approximately this location in the 1930’s during quarrying for sand at the NW end of an esker (pers. comm. Micheal Carroll, Belladoan, June 2016). This grave and another (MA021-077001-) were uncovered in 1931, and recorded by Morris (1932, 191-200).They were uncovered at a depth of c. 0.3m below the surface, lay parallel to each other, c. 3m apart, and were aligned E−W. Both graves were constructed of thin slabs of ‘greenstone’, a stone type not common in the vicinity. This grave (L. c. 1.8m; Wth c. 0.35m; D c. 0.3m) was constructed of three, upright slabs on each of the long sides, and a single slab at each of the short sides. There were no roof slabs, and Morris (Ibid., 194) suggested that it may originally have been roofed with timber. It was filled with sand, and no skeletal remains or grave goods were found. The adjacent grave (MA021-077001-) held an extended skeleton, with head to the W. The third grave (MA021-077003-), which contained an extended skeleton, was discovered in 1938 at a distance of c. 6m from the earlier finds (NMI Topographical Files). In the 1990’s, a bone sample taken from one (MA021-077001-) of the burials and produced the following radiocarbon date, suggesting a late Iron Age or Early Medieval date: OxA-3226 human bone 1590±90 1 sigma = AD382-575, 2 sigma = AD256-640 (Hedges et al. 1993, 305-26). No trace of the graves survives; at the location there are old quarry pits, several meters in diameter, and c. 2m deep, engulfed in overgrowth.

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 1 July 2016

References

Morris, H. 1932 The Belladooan skeleton. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 62, 191-200.

Hedges, R.E.M., Housley, R.A., Bronk Ramsey, C., & Van Klinken, G.J. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system. Archaeometry datelist 17. Archaeometry 35, 2, 305-26.