Urn burial in Coolnahane

In pasture, c. 30m ESE of ringfort (CO031-02301-). Discovered in 1975 during mechanical excavation of drainage channel, revealing circular pit (diam. c. 0.85m; D. c. 0.95m) containing an inverted Encrusted Urn; investigated by O'Kelly and Shee (1974, 71-83). Pit described as having near vertical sides and a flat base; central area beneath urn was roughly paved and there was backfill of loose soil and rounded stones around urn (ibid., 73). Urn divided into two parts by applied horizontal rib; area between rib and rim decorated with a 'zig-zag band or fillet' and between shoulder and base by 'roughly scored lines forming a very loose chevron pattern which runs to a slightly splayed foot' (O'Kelly and Shee 1974, 74-5). Cremated remains of single adult and three fragments of a bone pin contained within urn (ibid. 76). (Doody 1986, Cork No. 25; Waddell 1990, 60-1) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Urn burial in Coolnahane is a Bronze Age inhumation burial, dating to approximately 1000–700 BCE. Its significance lies in the presence of an Encrusted Urn, a distinctive ceramic type associated with early Bronze Age funerary practices in Ireland.