Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

An articulated human supine burial was excavated from the silts at the bottom of a ditch defining the plots associated with the houses and it must have been inserted. It was in poor condition but was the remains of adult male aged 26-35 years at the time of death, and provided a C14 date of AD 1420-1490 cal. AD (Beta 250960), demonstrating that the ditch was at least partially closed by the fifteenth century. A fragment of a human skull from a pit closer to the houses yielded a C14 date of 1260-1390 cal. AD (Beta 247100). This had probably been accidently disturbed from a formal burial and included in the pit fill, and disarticulated human bones were in the topsoil. (Martin 2009, 25, 59-60)

See the attached site plan from Martin (2009, fig. 10)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 12 April 2023

Fairburn, N. 2004 M3 Clonee-North of Kells. Contract 3 – Navan Bypass. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 7, Boyerstown, County Meath. Licence: 04E0580. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Martin, K. 2009 M3 Clonee-North of Kells. Contract 3 – Navan Bypass. Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Boyerstown 1, Co. Meath. Licence: E003105. Final Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services