What is recorded here

Ring-ditch in Kilbrew encloses a shallow grave where a young adult male lies supine, his head perhaps resting on a stone, dated to the Late Iron Age. The surrounding fosse holds a burnt layer with animal bones and willow charcoal, suggesting the circle marked more than a border. A stone-lined drain later cut through the earth near the burial, reminding that the place served living people long after the first diggers left it empty.

Two ring-ditches (ME038-054----; ME038-055----) were discovered in the course of a gradiometer survey (13R0118) by Target Archaeological Geophysics of the large enclosure (ME038-022----) undertaken in October 2013. A test trench (L 20m; Wth 2m) was opened (13E0466) across this feature in January 2014 by R. Meenan which revealed a fosse (Wth 2.05-2.4m) enclosing a circular area (diam. 8.5m). The remains of a much-disturbed inhumation burial, aligned ESE-WNW, were revealed in the centre but it was left in situ. (Meenan 2014) Subsequently it was decided to recover the material for its better preservation, and the trench was reopened (19E0084) by A. Hawkes who recovered the remains of the supine young adult male in a shallow grave-cut at the centre of the ring-ditch (excavations.ie 2019:120). The burial was aligned W-E and the head at the W may have been supported by a stone at its base. There were no grave-goods but some extraneous human skull fragments were present. Two samples from the remains yielded C14 dates of cal. AD 251-394 (UBA 40788) and cal. AD 397-536 (UBA 42445), providing a Late Iron Age date. The fosse was excavated at E (Wth 2.05m; D 0.7m) where there were three fills including a burnt layer with animal bones in the middle from which a sample of willow charcoal produced a C14 date of 747-402 cal. BC UBA 40787). The fosse at W (Wth 2.4m; D 0.74m) had a silting layer with some pebbles and charcoal flecks beneath a closing layer of yellow-brown clay. A NNE-SSW stone-lined drain cut through the monument c. 2m E of the burial. (Hawkes 2019, 9-19) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 19 April 2016 Amended: 12 April 2022

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