What is recorded here

Kilwarden is a quiet burial place in County Meath where a young woman has lain beneath the bog since the late medieval period. She entered the earth already clothed in two different textiles, one matching cloaks from distant Donegal and Sligo, as if travelling far before stopping to rest. The boy cutting turf in May 1978 broke that long silence, pulling her extended body and fabric into daylight after centuries of darkness.

In May 1978 human remains and some textile were discovered during turf-cutting in a bog. The body lay extended in a supine position. the remains were found to represent a young adult female. Two different types of textile were found associated with the body, and the weave of one was identical to a cloak from Meenybradden, Co. Donegal, and that from Killerry, Co. Sligo, suggesting a late medieval date for this burial. A sample was submitted for radiocarbon dating and yielded a calibrated date of AD 1400-1660 (Cahill & Sikora 2011, Vol 2, 283-287). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Date of upload: 12 March 2013

A bog body from the Iron Age; significant as a well-preserved example of human remains and textiles from an early Celtic period context in Ireland.

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