County: Louth Site name: FIELDSTOWN, Monasterboice
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 21:35(02) Licence number: 01E0048
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Site type: Cist
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 707544m, N 781515m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.772110, -6.368525
At the request of Dúchas, an excavation was carried out to rescue the contents of an exposed and endangered cist. The cist was previously known and thought to be undisturbed. It forms part of the associated cairn, SMR: 21:35(01).
Prior to excavation the feature consisted of a capstone and two sidestones visible in the northern side of the cairn. Excavation revealed that the cist was secondary and had been cut into the original cairn. This process had caused the removal of kerbstones, which survived elsewhere around the cairn. The disturbed cairn material had been redeposited around the cist and some of this was excavated, after which the capstone was removed. The capstone was 1.91m long, 0.8m wide and 0.26m thick.
Within the cist chamber were two deposits; the upper contained modern glass, plastic, etc. and proved that the contents of the cist had been disturbed in the recent past. The lower deposit contained fragments of human bone against the southern side of the chamber but no associated artefacts. Excavation disclosed that the recent access to the chamber had been obtained by removing the northern sidestone and not the capstone. The crouched burial and associated artefacts had been disturbed and robbed and the sidestone replaced. After excavation the cist and cairn were reinstated.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
