Cremation pit

The National Monuments Service's description

Harristown passage tomb (WA027-007----) was excavated in 1939 by J. Hawkes (1941). The covering cairn (diam. c. 15.25m) had spilled outside the orthostats, and it may have had an outer kerb of dispersed orthostats. The cairn contained secondary burials, all cremations, one with a vase food vessel, three with cordoned urns, one of which had a pygmy cup, and an unclassifiable urn. The cremated remains of at least four others were found in two deposits, and the associated finds of the secondary burials comprise a razor, a faience bead and perforated bone pins. This pit was outside the entrance to the passage tomb and contained the cremated remains two adults, probably young males, at the bottom, with the remains of another young adult male above them. The lower deposit contained a bone pin. (Waddell 1990, 145, 6)

Hawkes, J. (1941) Excavation of a megalithic tomb at Harristown, Co. Waterford. JRSAI, vol. 71, 130-47.
Waddell, J. (1990) The Bronze Age burials of Ireland. Galway University Press.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 31 May 2011