1994:140 - THE CAISEAL, Knockroe, Kilkenny

Prior to 1994, it had already been established that the monument was a decorated passage tomb featuring two chambers in the southern half of the cairn. In 1994, the third season at the site, attention was focused primarily on the eastern tomb. The campaign extended over nine weeks from early July to early September, bringing the total excavation time so far to twenty-two weeks. A further season is envisaged.

As suspected after the second season (Excavations 1991, 31) a quartz facade was found to have decorated the cairn in the vicinity of the eastern tomb (See O'Sullivan, JRSAI 123, for a further discussion of this.) The passage element in the eastern chamber itself did not extend to the perimeter of the cairn as defined by the megalithic kerb. Investigations showed that the absence of an outer passage was an original feature of the structure and there were inconclusive hints that continuing access to the chamber might have been achieved through an opening in the cairn about 1.5m behind the kerb.

The eastern tomb has a transeptal plan. The entrance is marked by a high sillstone and further, lower sills indicate significant divisions within the chamber. More than 15kg of cremated bone (after cleaning and drying) were recovered. Most of it came from within the tomb but a considerable proportion came from deposits outside the structure on the southern side. Sherds of Carrowkeel Ware, including the shattered lower half of a pot which was still in situ, were recovered amongst the cremated bones in the northern recess. A second, apparently flat-bottomed vessel was also represented in this compartment. Its red-coloured ware features zigzag cogwheel ornament. Wherever burials occurred, they were accompanied by a range of personal material: two pendants, a number of spacers, a fragment from a small pestle hammer, fragments of the shafts of bone pins, a perforated bone pinhead, a few pieces of antler and the heads of three metacarpal pins. The metacarpal pins are in many respects the most interesting finds. They belong to a type which is possibly the most characteristic artefact fashioned from organic material in Neolithic Europe. Yet, apart from a brief discussion in Hartnett's report on the excavations at Fourknocks 1, they have generally escaped attention in discussions of Irish Passage Tombs. It is hoped to redress this situation in a paper which is now in preparation.

Prior to the excavations at Knockroe, it was known that various kerbstones on the southern side and a number of orthostats in the western tomb featured megalithic art (O'Sullivan, JRSAI 117, 84-85). Some of the designs are aesthetically ambitious and comparisons with Knowth and Gavrinis are justifiable. It is remarkable therefore that only two decorated orthostats occur in the eastern tomb; the decoration in each case is a small collection of circles and ovals. The kerbstones in front of the eastern tomb are undecorated. This combined with other evidence encountered to date raises the possibility that the kerb and western tomb represent one phase of construction while the eastern tomb represents another, possibly earlier phase. It is a theory which remains to be tested in the fourth season.