2001:947 - CLARISTOWN 2, Claristown, Meath

The site was identified during monitoring carried out by Valerie J. Keeley Ltd during winter 2000, and was confirmed as a possible cairn during this assessment, carried out from 26 to 28 February 2001, and subsequent excavation.

Seven phases were identified on site. The first was a Neolithic metalled surface which may represent a working or walking surface. This had been partially cut by a foundation trench for a possible subcircular Neolithic structure. The infant burial may be associated with this phase of occupation. The earliest phase of Iron Age activity was identified as a semicircular arc of post-holes, stake-holes and pits which appear to have formed an Iron Age hut 6m in diameter. This was followed by the burial of an adult male within a stone-lined grave in the centre of the site, directly below a sycamore tree planted on the site in the 19th century, and then covered by a low mound. A circular structure consisting of a ring-ditch contained various pits, and a total of eighteen paired post-holes above the central burial may represent the remains of a circular house. This structure was eventually dismantled or burned and covered with a cairn of stone. Nine inhumations were found to the north of the cairn within rectangular graves. This small cemetery continues into the adjacent field and is likely to date from the late Iron Age/Early Christian period. A small group of four poorly preserved burials were also interred to the south of the cairn during the Early Christian period. A medieval radiocarbon date obtained from the base of the cairn is likely to relate to medieval field clearance.