What is recorded here

Kilbelin is a quiet burial place where four people were laid to rest in gravelly soil before a new house broke the ground in 1966. An adult man, an elderly person, a young person and an infant under one year old slept in narrow unlined graves, free of goods but marked by the shapes of their skulls. They may have belonged to a small family, a passing household or a forgotten neighbourhood, yet they were real enough to trust the earth with their bones.

In 1966, while excavating foundations for a new house on level ground, a number of inhumation burials were discovered in the gravelly subsoil. The NMI were informed and a limited rescue excavation ensued. Fragments of four human skulls – an adult male, an elderly individual of unknown sex, a juvenile of unknown sex and the skull of an infant of less than one year old - were found in unlined graves (D 0.78-0.9m; Wth at base 0.3-0.45m; Wth at top 0.8m). No grave goods were found. As the excavation was limited, the presence of other burials in the vicinity cannot be ruled out. (Cahill and Sikora 2011, Vol 2, 331-33) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 28 May 2012

A Neolithic inhumation burial; its significance lies in providing evidence of early settlement and funerary practices in the region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.