Ballymacaward Excavated Burial Cairn — Kildoney

Multi-period burial cairn. Excavation Number 97E0154. In March/April 1997, during land reclamation, human bone, slabs and boulders were encountered in an area behind sand dunes near the estuary of the River Erne. As a result of this discovery a limited excavation was undertaken for four weeks in May/June 1997 at the request of the National Monuments Service. Initially three trial-trenches were dug by hand: Nos 1 and 2, measuring 1.5m wide x 0.5m long (north-south), were opened at the northern and southern parts of the site respectively, and No. 3, 2m wide x 22m long, was opened west-east across the centre of the site. These revealed that the site consisted of a low, platform-type cairn, approximately 25m in diameter x 1m high. The cairn material consisted of water-rolled boulders and at least one extremely large rock, laid directly onto the sand. There is some evidence that the cairn was surrounded by a low kerb and that the surface at the centre had been covered with puddled clay/sand. Incorporated into the body of the cairn were two small rectangular stone cists. One of these (F12, 0.55m x 0.3m x 0.3m deep) was undisturbed and covered by a flat slab. It contained only clean sand. The second (F16, 0.7m x 0.5m x 0.2m deep), which had been disturbed by earth-moving machinery prior to the excavation, also appeared to have contained only sand. Two small bowl-shaped pits containing cremations were located in the puddled surface material near the centre of the monument. F7 (0.45m in diameter x 0.1m deep) contained a mixture of cremated bone, charcoal and dark-stained sand but no artefacts. F19 had been almost destroyed by the machine, but survived as a dark stain measuring 0.5m x 0.39m x 20mm deep; only a minute amount of charcoal and cremated bone survived. Charcoal from F7 produced a 14C date (UB-4169) in the 2nd/1st century BC. All evidence for inhumation burial which was visible on the surface was investigated. A total of ten graves were located and excavated. All contained the remains of extended supine inhumations, orientated west-east (heads west), with no grave-goods. The indications are that the burials are of five probable females, one probable male, and three uncertain. (Remains were examined in situ and post-excavation by Dr Máire Delaney.) Three of the burials were in long cists which had slab lining, floors and covers. Bone from one of these burials (female) produced a high-precision 14C date (UB-4171) of the mid-5th century AD. The remaining burials were in graves dug into the sand and/or puddled surface. Some had slight protection in the form of stones laid around the head. Two of these burials (both female) have produced high-precision 14C dates from bone (UB-4170, UB-4172) in the early and middle 7th century AD. Conclusions at present suggest that the cairn may originally have been built in the Bronze Age (if the short cists can be regarded as belonging to that period); it was reused for burial in the Iron Age, and again in the Early Historic/early medieval period. The location of the cairn, on the northern bank of the estuary of the River Erne, which was an important territorial boundary in the Early Historic period, suggests that it represents a boundary ferta or ancestral burial-place. A further season of excavation is proposed for 1998. Elizabeth O'Brien, 121 Barton Road East, Dundrum, Dublin 14. Excavation Number 97E0154 This monument was originally the subject of an investigative rescue excavation instigated by Dúchas The Heritage Service undertaken over a period of four weeks in May-June 1997 (Excavations 1997, 16). Following on from this a further season of excavation was undertaken for six weeks in May-June 1998 on an additional area, 80-90m east of the burial cairn. It was investigated because a geophysical survey had revealed anomalies suggestive of a possible destroyed circular enclosure. Primary monument The primary burial monument consists of a cairn, which was built around a natural rock outcrop by placing a layer of water-rolled boulders, similar to those found on the nearby beach, onto a sand-covering on the surface of the rock. The presence of uneven depressions (probable stone/boulder sockets) indicates the probability that the cairn-like structure also had a smaller cairn (now destroyed) on the summit. The presence in the cairn of a short cist of Bronze Age type (and a further destroyed example) implies that the monument was constructed in the Bronze Age. Over a period of about a millennium part of the monument became buried in sand and vegetation but was apparently still partially visible in the 2nd/1st century BC. Excavation in 1998 revealed that this visible portion was augmented by the addition on the northern side of the mound of a level layer of stones interspersed with a mixture of charcoal and cremated bone and bounded by a low revetment. Also within this area were remains of a possible skull burial and one piece of cattle bone. The two small, bowl-shaped pits with cremated bone/ charcoal (dated to the 2nd/1st century BC) found near the summit of the mound in 1997 appear to be contemporary with this secondary extension. A further slab-lined grave containing an extended inhumation was recovered, bringing to four (possibly five) the number of such graves (all female) that were inserted into the monument in the 5th century AD. The remaining seven extended inhumations in unprotected dug graves (also female), recovered in 1997, have been dated to the 7th century AD. It is a noticeable feature that all the burials avoid the central area, a further indication of the probable presence of a central small cairn. It is concluded that, because of the important historical background to the area in which this monument lies, it represents a Bronze Age cairn that became an ancestral boundary ferta (burial place) into which burials were then inserted at crucial historic periods. Secondary excavation Three cuttings were inserted through areas of positive and dipolar anomalies, possibly indicative of an enclosure, as revealed by the geophysical survey, c. 80-90m west of the burial cairn. All three cuttings revealed layers of blown sand interspersed with thin layers of vegetation, below which iron panning, varying in density of discoloration, in sand was encountered. The water table was reached immediately beneath the iron panning at a depth of c. 1.2m. It was concluded that the positive anomalies may be the result of iron panning and that the dipolar anomalies probably represent a reservoir of underground water. There was no evidence of a man-made enclosure, but, as the area regularly becomes water-logged in wet seasons, this could result in the formation, over an extended period, of a depression that would have the surface appearance of a destroyed enclosure. (Excavations Bulletin 1998) Elizabeth O'Brien, 121 Barton Road East, Dundrum, Dublin 14.