What is recorded here

Quarrying destroyed the burial context before analysis began. At least two adults and a young child gave up their bones to a hole cut across the Mayo-Roscommon border, while nearby stones and a ringbarrow remained untouched. The loss of context turned a clear death into an unfinished sentence, depriving the living of the exact circumstances that would have completed the account.

At a quarry (diam. 25-30m; D 3m), on Kiltullagh Hill, which straddles the Mayo-Roscommon border. Two standing stones (MA103-042001-; MA103-042002-) once stood on the Mayo side of the border, and there are a standing stone (RO032-001001-), a ringbarrow (RO032-001002-) and burials (RO032-001004-) located c. 25-30m to NE on the Roscommon side. In 1991 a scattering of fragmentary human and animal bone was recovered from displaced soil at a quarry. Analysis of the human bones and teeth indicted that there were at least two adult individuals, a male and a female, but possibly up to four adult individuals in total. In addition, a mandible fragment of a child of c. 3-5 years of age was recovered. Two samples of bone sent for radiocarbon analysis produced late Iron Age dates. The original context of the bones was destroyed and no information was retrieved about the mode of burial. The authors did note a preponderance of skull fragments relative to limb bones and suggested the possibility that conventional burials were not represented but some form of ritual deposit or possible human head cult, possibly in association with two standing stones (MA103-042001-; MA103-042002-). (Cribbin et al. 1994) Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 23 November 2022

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.