2000:0506 - MOONE, Kildare

The site at Moone was revealed during monitoring of topsoil-stripping on the N9 Moone–Timolin– Ballitore Hill, Co. Kildare, close to the summit of an extensive grass-covered sand and gravel deposit. The initial discovery was that of a large capstone 1.6m long, 1.1m wide and 0.34m thick, which covered a cist formed of four stone slabs; there was no floor slab. The cist was 0.79m (north–south), 0.78m wide and 0.55m deep. It contained a crouched skeleton lying on its right side, facing west with the head at the northern end. An upright bowl food vessel lay on the hands, close to the head on its west side. A large pit, roughly circular, 2.1m (north–south) by 2.15m and 0.84m deep, had been dug to accommodate the cist. Within an area c. 10m (north–south) and 5m wide, a total of seven pit burials were uncovered.

Listed as features F2 to F7, their contents were as follows. F2 was a much-eroded pit with some long bones and some human teeth. F3 held a crouched skeleton aligned north–south; elements of the skeleton were missing, including hand, feet and pelvis bones, and part of the skull. F4a was a small circular pit containing the remains of an infant; a marker stone was sited on the pit. F4b was a large oval pit that held the crouched skeleton of a female, orientated north-west/south-east; two boar tusks, four flints and a small fragment of metal were also found with the burial. F5 was a pit that held a crouched skeleton aligned east–west, with the head to the east; it was accompanied by a bowl food vessel located close to the pelvis. One small pit, F6, containing a cremation and flint, lay close to the cist grave. F7 held a crouched skeleton aligned north–south, with the head to the north; a flint arrowhead lay on the east side of the skull, and a bowl food vessel, in a poor state of preservation, was found close to the feet.

The pottery is undergoing conservation at the time of writing. Further analysis of all finds will be carried out.