1973:052 - CLOUGHSKELT, Down

In March 1973 two urns were discovered by Mr. W. Doyle when ploughing; the find was reported to the Ulster Museum. After a brief examination a team from the Museum began a full-scale excavation of the site. In all, twenty four graves of diverse forms were located; of which one (Grave No. 2) was totally encisted, nine totally uncisted (or simple “pit” graves as other writers have termed them), one (No. 16) a long cisted grave, one (No. 20) set against a stone alignment and the rest partially (to a greater or lesser degree) encisted. From these graves nearly fifty pots or fragments of pots were recovered — including a total of five (two encrusted urns and three food vessels) from grave No. 1. One interesting additional feature uncovered was the presumptive site of the funeral pyre; a thick black deposit containing spicules of cremated bone covering an area some nine metres by six. With the exception of single sherd of coarse pottery from the pyre area, all the pottery recovered from the cemetery was Encrusted Urn (though this term may no longer prove satisfactory since some of the vessels were free of applied relief decoration) and Vase Food Vessel. Samples of Radiocarbon dating were recovered from the pyre-site. Probably the greatest importance of Cloughskelt lies in stressing the importance of examining carefully the precincts of uncovered Bronze Age Graves.