Burial ground

The National Monuments Service's description

Two burials were discovered in the course of quarrying activites in March 1998. A rescue excavation was undertaken from 6th - 8th April. Murphy (1998, 4) records the following: ‘The remains of nine individuals were recovered from this site, only four of which were clearly visible. Two of these had been removed at an earlier stage and two during the present rescue excavation. The orientation of the four burials which were in situ would suggest that they were Christian. The number of burials would suggest that they formed part of a familial cemetery. There were no artefacts recovered that might give a clue to the date of the burials. There is no evidence for a church ever having been associated with this site, but one of the fields to the east of the burials was known as the Coilean field. This may be a corruption of Cilleen which might suggest that there was some folk memory of a burial ground in this area. It is quite possible that the enclosure [MA101-102----] located 148m due south of the burials may also be associated with these burials. . . Further topsoil stripping to the east-west and south of the burials was carried out under archaeological supervision. A small piece of disarticulated human bone was recovered immediately south of the burials, however an area of up to 12m south of the burials was stripped of topsoil and there was no evidence for further human remains. The sod and topsoil had an approximate depth of 0.25m and it overlay the natural gravel.’

Compiled by: Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 24 February 2014

References

Murphy, D. 1998 Report on archaeological rescue excavation at Ahena, Co. Mayo. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Licence no. 98E0177.