County: Meath Site name: DONAGHMORE, Blackcastle Demesne
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 90E0017
Author: Helen Roche, Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Flat cemetery
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 687432m, N 768519m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.659116, -6.677207
Previous excavations at this site in 1990 uncovered six cist burials (Excavations 1990, 46–7). Five were fully excavated at that stage. All produced skeletal remains, both inhumation and cremation. Grave goods were found in two cists. A poorly preserved pot (presumably a Food Vessel) was found near the skull in Cist 2 and a Food Vessel sherd, a worked flint and a polished stone were found in Cist 3.
Excavation of this site resumed in 1994 for a two-week season. No further squares were opened; the aim was to fully excavate the area already de-sodded. Two additional cists (Cists 7 and 8) and two pit-burials (Nos. 1 and 2) were uncovered. All contained cremation deposits except for Cist 8 which contained a crouched inhumation. The fragmented remains of two Bowl Food Vessels were found in Cist 7 and Pit-Burial 1. Cist 6, which had been uncovered in 1990, was excavated, but no burial remains or grave goods were found.
Scattered fragments of cremated bone were found on the old ground surface, the level from which the cists were cut.
No evidence for an overlying mound or a surrounding bank were found, indicating that this site was a flat cemetery.
