Linkardstown burial

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 573. Situated on the NW shoulder of an E-W ridge in farmland. A megalithic structure is exposed in a round mound which in turn is encircled by two low wide banks with internal ditches giving an overall diameter of 90m. The structure was uncovered during bulldozing operations in 1980 after which the site was excavated (Manning 1985). The core, 18 to 20m in diameter, overlain by a covering of clay. The megalithic structure stands eccentrically within the cairn. It is trapezoidal in plan, some 5m long, and narrows from 2.3m wide at the SE or inner end to 1.3m at the open NW end. It was built around a limestone erratic which has a sloping upper surface and serves as a floorstone. Inward-leaning slabs, three to the NE and two to the SW, form the sides of the structure. The latter two stones were quarried from the top of the erratic that now acts as a floorstone. Two stones form the inner end of the structure. There is a stone at right angles to the SW side of the structure 1.2m from the inner end. This, in combination with a rough wall, divides it in two. That part of it forward of the dividing wall was filled with cairn stones among which animal bones and the bones of a child less than a year old were found. The inner end of the structure, roofed by a number of slabs, served as a burial chamber. The skeletal remains of an adult male and a child were found here along with a variety of animal bones, a bone point, some chert flakes and Neolithic pottery, including sherds bearing channelled decoration. Radiocarbon dating indicates a calendar date of c.3,350 BC for the burial in the chamber (Brindley and Lanting 1989-90, 3).

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The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

References

Brindley, A. and Lanting, J.N. 1989-90 Radiocarbon dates for Neolithic single burials. Journal of Irish Archaeology 5, 1-7.

Manning, C. 1984 A Neolithic burial at Ashleypark, Co. Tipperary. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 26, 94-6.