Flat cemetery

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a slight rise in a fairly level landscape. Archaeological monitoring (01E0538) of the centre-line and offsets on the line of the Enfield bypass road identified six potential archaeological areas that were subsequently resolved under different licences (Clutterbuck 2003). In this area excavation (01E0597) recorded 14 shallow oval pits (dims 0.1m x 0.06m; D 0.03m to 1.2m x 1.1m; D 0.16m) in an arc (Chord 11.5m N-S) at the E edge of the road-take. Charcoal was obtained in 18 pits and crushed bone in 12, but while some animal bone was present it was impossible to confirm that any of the bone was human (Buckley 2009). The artefacts include flint débitage, metal fragments and metal slag. A sample of animal bone produced a C14 date of Cal. AD 81-402, and the greater part of the monument is preserved in the field to the E. (Clutterbuck 2003, 2009)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 14 August 2019

References

Clutterbuck, R. 2003 Johnstown. Pits. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2001: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 300, No. 974. Bray, Wordwell

Clutterbuck, R. 2009 Enfield Relief Road. Final Report on Archaeological Excavation at Site 1, Johnstown, County Meath, on the Enfield Relief Road. Licence No. 01E0597. Unpublished report, CRDS

Buckley, L 2009 Appendix 8 Excavation 01E0597: Burnt Bone Analysis. In Clutterbuck 2009, 60-63.