County: Westmeath Site name: RATHCONRATH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Raghnall O Floinn and Stella Cherry, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
Site type: Cist
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 631444m, N 753022m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.526223, -7.525771
Two cist graves were excavated over a period of four days. Cist 1 was trapezoidal in plan, orientated on a southeast/north-west axis with the wider end to the south-east and measured 0.94m x 0.56m. It was covered with a single capstone. The burial deposit consisted of an oval spread of burnt bone placed centrally in the cist. A Food Vessel of Bowl type was placed mouth upwards mid-way along the north side.
Cist 2 was located c. 3m to the east, covered by two capstones, one above the other. Rectangular in plan, it measured 0.84m x 0.51m. The burial deposit consisted of two piles of cremated bone placed along the central axis in a figure-of-eight pattern. A single Food Vessel of the Vase type was placed upright mid-way along the cist's south side.
