County: Meath Site name: PETERSTOWN, Trim
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0389 ext.
Author: Deirdre Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 681253m, N 757541m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.561485, -6.773524
Further archaeological rescue excavation was carried out at Peterstown, Trim, Co. Meath, on 16 May 1998, after a human burial was uncovered during drainage works associated with a road improvement scheme by Meath County Council. The remains of four individuals, three males and one female, were discovered 75m north-west of here in November 1997 (Excavations 1997, 143–4). Skeletal analysis had produced tentative evidence of an Early Christian or early medieval date for these burials. A radiocarbon date of 1594±37 years BP (cal. AD 414–532) for Burial 2 confirmed this Early Christian date. There was no archaeological or historical evidence of a cemetery in this area before this.
The stratigraphy above the latest burial had been disturbed by modern cuts, and the feet had been truncated during the mechanical excavation of the pipe-track. A subrectangular grave-cut, 0.28m deep at the south and 0.36m at the north, had been dug into the natural at a depth of 1m from the modern ground level. It measured 1.38m east-west by 0.52m. The fill of the grave-cut was redeposited natural and sand.
The burial was of a standard type and consisted of a supine extended inhumation aligned north-east/ south-west. It was 1.65m long. There was no evidence of a coffin or shroud. The skeleton was largely complete and well preserved, although the skull and feet were truncated by the machine. The skull was recovered but not the feet. The lower jaw was still in situ and was facing north, indicating that the skull originally faced this direction. The position of the arms was unusual. The right arm was flexed over the lower abdomen, and the right hand was extended over the left arm. The left arm was extended by the side. The legs were apart and fully extended.
Skeletal analysis revealed that the remains were that of a male between the ages of 17 and 25. The burial had numerous skeletal pathologies and anomalies, and there is evidence that death may have been caused by a severe tooth infection. No artefacts were recovered in relation to this burial (Burial 3), athough a radiocarbon date of 446+46 years (cal. AD 1425–1461) indicates a 15th-century date for it. No further archaeological work is required in this area.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
