2019:606 - DONACARNEY GREAT, Meath
County: Meath
Site name: DONACARNEY GREAT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ME021-029
Licence number: 19E0077
Author: Níall Garahy, Archaeology Plan
Author/Organisation Address: 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
Site type: Pit-burial, Enclosure, Habitation site and Kiln - corn-drying
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 714516m, N 774043m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.703508, -6.265591
Phase 1 of excavations at Donacarney Great revealed a first millennium AD settlement cemetery that was part of a wider necropolis landscape that included Colp West, Ninch and Bettystown.
The earliest surviving features at the site were three Bronze Age vase urn pit burials. A nearby structure with associated prehistoric pottery as well as flint artefacts distributed across the site indicate prehistoric activity beyond solely funerary purposes.
The main phase of occupation was a first millennium AD settlement cemetery. Two separate burial areas were identified but not fully excavated during this phase. The first burial area (ME021-029) was bounded by a long, straight enclosure ditch. A previous excavation in this area yielded a radiocarbon date of 540AD (+/- 35) from one of the skeletons (Rathbone 2008).
The second burial area was within a sub-circular enclosure, with internal and external diameters of 19m and 22m respectively. One individual was found to be wearing a copper alloy neck piece. No other individuals on the site were buried with grave goods and all burials were fully extended and aligned on an approximate east-west axis.
Several large enclosures with associated annexes were excavated across the site. While evidence for structural habitation in gravelly natural subsoil was sparse, proof for significant activity survived in the form of artefacts, five corn-drying kilns and food refuse.
Rathbone (2007) previously acquired a radiocarbon date of 300AD (+/- 35) from an animal bone excavated on an adjacent site. Several sherds of E-ware pottery dating to the mid-6th to early-8th centuries were distributed across the settlement cemetery. A 10th/11th-century Hiberno-Norse ringed pin was found over one of the burial grounds. All of this was evident of a long-lived landscape.
Specialist analysis and reporting on the archaeological material retrieved during the excavation was ongoing at the time of upload.
Bibliography
Rathbone, S. and O’Reilly, E. 2007. 06E0413 and extension. Report on Archaeological Excavation at Donaghcarney Great, Bettystown, Co. Meath (Phase 1).
Rathbone, S. and O’Reilly, E. 2008. 07E0622. Report on Archaeological Excavation at Donaghcarney Great, Bettystown, Co. Meath (Phase 2).
