What is recorded here

Young woman and two children under five lay head-west in a north-south line on the hill crest, dated 1440-1660. Another adult woman, twenty-six to thirty-five years old, lay head-east fifty metres south, cutting through an older grave, also dated 1480-1660. They belonged to the same centuries, perhaps the same household or parish, buried across a short distance on sloping ground beside what is now a road.

Situated at the crest of the S-facing slope of a broad hill, c. 240m NW of the tower house (ME049-002----) and c. 220m N of the medieval excavated features (ME049-035----). Archaeological testing (06E1231) by A. Collins (2008, 18) in advance of the realignment of a N-S section of the R158 road identified archaeological deposits extending over a narrow strip (dims 100m N-S; 17m E-W) on the E side of the existing road that were subsequently excavated (07E0296) as Site 10 by E. Larsson (excavations.ie 2007:1313). Lithics of a Neolithic character and some pits of later prehistoric date are present, while two cereal-drying kilns were also recorded in this era. Two groups of burials, dating to the early medieval and the post-medieval periods were excavated as well as a N-W ditch that is probably an earlier iteration of the existing road bank and ditch. (Larsson 2009) Three extended supine burials were placed in a N-S line with the heads at W. The W end of one burial was slightly truncated by the post-medieval land drain that accompanies the road. The remains were those of a young female and two children less than five years old. A radiocarbon date of 1440-1660 cal. AD was returned for the adult burial. The burial of an adult female aged 26-35 years at the time of death was placed in the group of early medieval interments c. 50m to the S, truncating one of the earlier graves. This individual was laid E-W with the head at E, and a C14 date of 1480-1660 cal. AD was returned for it, which places it in the same time-frame as the small N group. (ibid. 56-8) See the attached plan from Larsson (2009, fig. 24) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 June 2021

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