- RIVERSTOWN, CO. WESTMEATH, Westmeath

Introduction
In late April 1969 a short cist containing an inhumation and a bowl was found during ploughing on a farm near Killucan, Co. Westmeath. The discovery was made when the plough struck the capstone at a depth of 0.2m and broke it into three pieces. When a piece of the stone was removed, the cist and its contents were revealed. In attempting to remove the vessel, the skeleton was disturbed and the vessel shattered. The site was reported to the NMI by Mrs Ruth Vandeleur of Wardenstown, Co. Meath, and a rescue investigation was undertaken by John Waddell. This report is based on Waddell’s account of the site.³⁴³ The human remains were examined by Laureen Buckley.

Location (Fig. 3.202)
The cist was in the townland of Riverstown, south-east Co. Westmeath, just 5km west of the Meath border.³⁴⁴ The site was a gently rounded gravel hillock approximately 90m above sea level. In 1963 a short cist containing a bowl and a cremation was excavated in the neighbouring townland of Mill Land (Rynne 1964, 114), and another early Bronze Age cist is known from Balrowan townland, approximately 1km north-west of that at Riverstown. Further north, at Huntingdon, a cist containing a crouched skeleton was discovered (Waddell 1990, 150). While investigating the cist burial, the landowner informed Waddell that a farmer in the neighbouring farm, also in Riverstown townland, had ploughed up some human remains the previous year.³⁴⁵ No further information was available.

Description of site
The short cist was rectangular in plan, with its long axis aligned east/west. It measured 1.2m long by 0.6m wide by 0.61m deep internally (Fig. 3.203). The northern and southern walls were each formed of a single edge-set slab, while that at the east was formed of two slabs placed parallel to each other.³⁴⁶ The innermost slab was somewhat irregular in form; its straight edge was placed uppermost and it effectively sealed the upper half of the eastern end of the cist. The consequent gap at the base of the eastern end was filled with small rounded boulders. The western end of the cist was formed of a single rounded boulder onto which a single course of rounded stones had been placed.³⁴⁷ The cist was sealed by a rectangular capstone, which, when complete, measured 1.6m long by 1.2m wide by 0.27m thick. The floor of the cist was paved with small flat slabs, averaging 0.2m long by 0.15m wide by 0.06m thick.

The cist contained a crouched inhumation of an older adult male (1969:672) and a tripartite bowl. The body lay on its right side with the head in the eastern end, facing north. The bones of the skeleton, a male aged over 50 at death, had only been slightly disturbed after discovery, and the skull and long bones lay more or less in their presumed original position. The smaller bones, notably of the hands and feet, and apparently some of the vertebrae, had disintegrated. The left hand of the skeleton was flexed at right angles to the upper arm and lay across the abdomen, and the end of the ulna and the radius almost touched the sherds of the vessel. The bowl had originally stood mouth upwards between the chest of the body and the northern side wall.

Tripartite bowl, 1969:671 (Fig. 3.204)
The sherds represent the greater portion of a tripartite bowl. The rim has a slight internal bevel ornamented with a slight zigzag in false relief. The uppermost zone of the exterior bears a single zigzag line in false relief bordered above and below by a pair of horizontal lines. The raised rib between this zone and the next is ornamented with oblique incised lines. The second zone bears a broad band of lozenge shapes in false relief, bordered as the first. The raised rib between this and the next zone is ornamented with a zigzag line of false relief. Below this rib there occurs in succession a broader band of lozenge shapes in false relief with a hatched background, a slight rib with vertical lines, and, extending to the base, a zone filled with short, incised horizontal lines. Although only part of the base survives, it apparently bore an incised cruciform device. The fabric is coarse and friable, well tempered with small grits up to approx. 5mm in size. In colour it is light buff-brown externally and internally, with a black core.
Dimensions: est. H 10.8cm; ext. D rim 15.2cm; avg. T wall 1cm.

Comment
A sample of collagen produced a date of 3645±30 BP,³⁴⁸ which calibrates to 2134–1926 BC at 95.4% probability. Brindley (2007, 245) places this vessel in stage 2 of the development of bowl tradition pottery, which is dated to 2080–1980 BC.

HUMAN REMAINS
LAUREEN BUCKLEY

Description of burial (1969:672)
According to the account of the burial, the skeleton was virtually complete, although some of the vertebrae and the smaller bones of the hands and feet had disintegrated. Only two boxes were available for analysis, with the result that the skull, vertebrae and pelvis were not examined as they could not be located. The only bones available were mainly long bones. These included a complete left humerus and a right humerus that was fragmented at the proximal end. The left radius and ulna were complete and the right radius and ulna were almost complete. Only the left second metacarpal remained from the hands. The lateral half of the left clavicle was present. There were four left ribs and eight right ribs, and the manubrium of the sternum was present. The left femur was almost complete but part of the proximal end was missing; the right femur was complete. The left tibia was decayed but virtually complete, and the right tibia and fibula were complete. Only the distal half of the left fibula remained. The only foot bone remaining was the left talus.
Several bones were encrusted with mineral deposits. This is a frequent finding in inhumations within cists, as water can collect here and minerals can crystallise out over time.

Age and sex
Although the pelvis and the skull, which are most useful for determining sex, were not available, it can be stated with certainty that this was a male individual. The bones were very large and rugged, with muscle attachments very well developed. Metric measurements indicated that the diameters of the heads of the humeri, femurs and radii as well as the bicondylar width of the femur were all above those expected for males.
The only feature available to determine age was the sternal ends of the ribs. These, together with the fact that some of the costal cartilages had ossified and fused to the ribs, indicated that this was an older individual, probably over 50 years but at least over 45 years of age at the time of death.

Stature
Using the lengths of the femur and fibula and the stature equations of Trotter and Gleser (1952; 1958), the estimated living stature of the individual was 171cm.

Skeletal pathology
Not surprisingly, as this was an older individual, there was some indication of degeneration of the joints. These included the left shoulder joint, where there was a moderate degree of porosity of the lateral end of the clavicle and severe marginal lipping and surface osteophytes on the head of the humerus. At the right shoulder there was severe marginal lipping around the head of the humerus. At the left elbow there was mild marginal lipping around the trochlea and capitulum of the humerus, and moderate lipping around the proximal joint of the ulna. The ulnar articulation area on the proximal left radius had mild lipping. The right elbow was also affected, with moderate marginal lipping all around the trochlea and capitulum of the humerus and moderate lipping around the proximal ulna.
At the left wrist there was mild marginal lipping of the radius and moderate lipping and surface osteophytes on the distal ulna. The distal ends of the right radius and ulna were not present. There may also have been some degeneration of the hand joints, as there was mild lipping around the distal and proximal joint ends of the left second metacarpal. Degeneration had also occurred at the sterno-clavicular joints, with severe lipping and porosity of the articular surfaces for the clavicles on the sternum.
The joints of the left hip and knee were very decayed and therefore no lesions were observed. On the right hip there was severe lipping around the head of the femur. At the distal femur and proximal tibia joint surfaces there was only very mild lipping.
There was a large exostosis on the linea aspera in the distal half of the left femur. The exostosis was partially broken and decayed, but there appeared to be a slight enlargement of the bone around the area of the exostosis. This is probably a condition known as myositis ossificans, where damage to muscle fibre causes bone formation stimulated by bleeding into the tissue. It commonly occurs in muscles of the thigh.
The right linea aspera had a very rugged appearance, as did the greater trochanter on the right femur.

Summary and conclusions
This was the skeleton of an older adult male, with a living stature of 171cm. Although the skeleton was found relatively complete, not all the bones were available for analysis. The bones were in a good state of preservation, although there was some decay on the lower leg bones and some of the bones were encrusted with mineral deposit. The individual appeared to have been muscular, as there was ossification of ligament and tendon insertions of the muscles on several bones, notably the upper arms and thighs. On the left leg there had been severe muscle damage at the back of the thigh that had caused ossification in the muscle tissue. This may have caused constant pain if it impinged on nerves in the vicinity. Not surprisingly, there was some degenerative disease of most joints, including the shoulders, elbows, left wrist and right hip. In no case was it severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of osteoarthritis.

343. A summary account of the cist is published in Waddell 1990, 154, and an illustration of the bowl was also published (Ó Ríordáin 1972, 234), but it was felt that the report on the human remains merited publication.
344. Parish of Killucan, barony of Farbill. SMR WM027-018——. IGR 256349 250619.
345. OS 6in. sheet 27. IGR 256043 250287.
346. The northern slab measured 1.28m long by 0.68m wide by 0.18m thick; the southern slab measured 1.28m long by 0.65m wide by 0.28m thick. The western end stone measured 0.6m long by 0.46m wide by 0.3m thick.
347. As the outside of the cist was not excavated, it is not known whether packing stones had been placed outside
the cist.
348. GrN-9322.