What is recorded here

Ten bodies lay chained inside a low limestone knoll in Gortnacargy, waiting for a water tank to break their guard. When the diggers split the grass in 1956, most skeletons faced northwest with their heads raised, as if still watching the sky or listening for a name. One grave held a broken food vessel beside its dead person, suggesting hunger, memory or tribute rather than bare disposal. The knoll did not announce itself as sacred; it gave up its people only when forgotten and cut open.

Prior to excavation, the site comprised a low, grass-covered natural knoll of limestone (dims. 11m E-W x 10m N-S; H 0.5m). Three separate graves which reputedly contained extended skeletons, one of which was accompanied by a rimsherd of pottery of food vessel type, were discovered when the cemetery was disturbed during the course of construction of an underground water storage tank in 1956. The site was subsequently excavated by Ó Ríordáin in 1957 yielding a further seven burials, several animal teeth and bones, numerous potsherds and other artifacts, among them a small blue glass bead and chert scrapers. All but one of the skeletons were orientated NW-SE with the skull at NW, and placed individually in their own grave extended on their backs. (Ó Ríordáin 1967, 61-73) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008

A Neolithic burial site, likely a cist or simple pit burial; its significance lies in the presence of extended inhumations, which are characteristic of early funerary practices in Ireland.

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