Burial mound

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a rise in a fairly level landscape. The mound (diam. of base 21m; H 2.5m), known locally to have been a graveyard called Killahaushkeen, had been cut by the R158 Trim to Summerhill road, which was established by the eighteenth century. The name was also recorded in the 1930s (IFC: Schools Collection, vol. 692, 176). A proposed re-alignment necessitated archaeological testing (04E0986) of the mound, the W half of which had largely been removed by the existing road, but a bordering ditch was revealed in excavation on this side.
The mound is a natural sand ridge with disturbed inhumations immediately beneath the sod extending to a max. depth of 1.3-1.9m. Beneath disturbed levels 17 extended inhumations were identified, of which only seven were recovered, and two collections of flat stones could have covered burials that were not excavated. Several of the burials could have been marked by collections of small stones, and a rectangular iron buckle was associated with one burial, which might be an adult male. The C14 dates for three burials range from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries: Cal AD 1609-1796; Cal. AD 688-754; Cal AD 974-1155. The partial remains of a structure consisting of a wall and a cobbled surface (L 7.5m; Wth c. 1m) is preserved under the road just N of the mound. (Breen 2007; McCullough 2008)
Including the disarticulated remains, thirty five individuals were represented. A fifth were neo-natal and infants, while juveniles and adolescents amounted to almost a quarter. 57% of the sample were adults, of whom 44% were male. The recovered remains provide evidence of a carbohydrate-rich diet but without evidence of sugar. The wide date range militates against any population analysis. (Randolph-Quinney 2007)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 26 August 2019

References

McCullough, D. A. 2008 R158 Summerhill to Trim Re-alignment, Co. Meath: Archaeological test excavations. Final report, Licence No. 04E0986. Dangan Mound, Co. Meath. Unpublished report, Valerie J. Keeley

Randolph-Quinney, P. 2007 Osteological Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains from Dangan Burial Mound (04E0986), R158 Summerhill to Trim re-Alignment, Co. Meath. Unpublished report, ODK Resources in McCullough 2008

Breen, T. 2007 Killahaushky, Killahaushkeen or Killasheen, Dangan. Graveyard. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2004: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 304, No. 1215. Dublin, Wordwell