2002:0476 - CARMANHALL: Site 54, Dublin

This site was identified north of Glencairn House in south County Dublin during monitoring of topsoil-stripping for the South-Eastern Motorway under licence 01E1229. The land was flat to the north and east but on the south-western side sloped steeply downward to a wide stream in a mixed wooded area. This stream fed the artificial lake that bordered Leopardstown and Murphystown to the south-east. At this point in the landscape the stream marked the boundary between Carmanhall and Murphystown townlands.

An area measuring 40m on its south-western and north-eastern sides, 15m on its south-eastern side and 10m on its north-western side was fenced off after the area was identified during topsoil-stripping. It is very likely that more burials are situated beyond the CPO line to the south-west.

Contexts were divided into three groups. The first group exclusively comprises the burials. Contexts were assigned to the second and third groups according to their location on the site: those in Group 2 were near the burials in the south-eastern section of the site, and those in Group 3 were in the north-western section. No features were found in the central area. All features except the suspected plough furrow in the extreme east of the area are regarded as contemporaneous until the results of 14C dating are received.

Burial 1 contained a single vessel, and Burial 2 two vessels. Burial 3 did not contain any vessel; the cremated remains were placed in a stone-lined circular pit. The pits were found in the southern area of the site, within 7m of each other and close to an area of weathered granite bedrock that may have been exposed at the time of interment. The bedrock nearby to the north was not weathered and may never have been exposed to the elements.

Burial-pit 1 was found 4.3m to the north-west of the weathered bedrock in the south-east corner of the site. A vase urn was placed centrally, upside down in the cut. The vessel was filled with cremated human remains. It was not possible to record the cut fully, as the sides had to be removed during the removal of the vase urn. At the top it was almost circular and very slightly angular in plan, measuring 0.44m by 0.39m, and it tapered gently inward from top to base on the north-western side. The sides were nearly vertical on the north and slightly overhung on the east. The base of the vessel was 0.12m below the top of the cut. The cremated remains in the vessel were very clean, with little or no charcoal. Brown unburnt soil could be seen adhering to some of the bone fragments. They may have been washed before they were placed in the vessel. The fill of the pit was mostly a soft, black, silty charcoal with a blue hue. Less than 5% was brown silty sand. This also contained very soft charcoal lumps and occasional small granite stones. Occasional flecks of burnt bone were found in the fill but were more concentrated toward the base. This fill may have been the by-product of the cremation process. It contrasts with the fill of the other cremation pits because of its high concentration of charcoal.

Burial-pit 2 was 0.5m north-east of the weathered bedrock. It contained two vessels placed in a cut and covered by two fills. Again, it was not possible to record the cut of the pit fully because of the method used to remove the vessels intact; however, as the vessels were off-centre in the pit, a fairly good record was achieved. The cut was oval, measuring 0.55m east–west by 0.57m, and had a maximum depth of 0.24m. The sides were concave or collapsed, as on the north-eastern side. The base was stony and concave, with a dip in the centre. The vessels were placed on the north-eastern side of the pit. This side of the pit had slumped on top of the vessels in the past, so it is likely that the pit was bigger when the vessels were inserted, and therefore they were not necessarily placed off-centre at that time.

The two vessels were found inverted in this pit. Vessel 9, the larger, was first noticed sticking out from under a flat stone (possible capstone). Vessel 10 was found a few centimetres lower, to the east. It was leaning on the first vessel at an angle and looked like it was inserted in the pit at an angle, although the slumping of the pit side may have accentuated the tilt. The weight of the flat stone on the larger vessel had resulted in cracking of the fabric and had caused it to slump slightly downward onto itself and to one side. Vessel 10 was smaller and better made and so did not collapse under its own weight but was damaged where it had contact with the larger vessel, suggesting that it fell over in the pit in antiquity or perhaps when it was being inserted. The cremated remains in the vessels were very clean, and the pieces of bone were large. Again, they may have been washed before being put in the vessels.

A flat granite stone measuring 0.34m by 0.22m by 0.05m thick lay south-east/north-west across the north-eastern part of the pit, partly over Vessel 9 and completely over the area where Vessel 10 was. This unworked slab was similar in shape and size to a saddle quern and may have been used in this context because of that.

Burial 3 was adjacent to the bedrock, 1.7m south-west of Burial 2. It was stone lined and had a fill of loose, mid-brown, sandy silt with inclusions of small pieces of cremated bone and stones; there were some darker patches of charcoal in the fill. The cut was circular with concave to vertical sides and an uneven stony base. It measured 0.5m by 0.45m and had a maximum depth of 0.16m. It was lined with seven granite stones. The largest was flat, 0.28m by 0.18m by 0.08m thick. It was set on the south-western side of the pit with its concave face facing inward. Stones 2–6 had an average size of 0.13m by 0.09m by 0.05m; the smallest (7) was 60mm by 50mm by 30mm. At the base of the pit, on flat but tilted granite bedrock, was loose black charcoal and silt with very occasional pebbles, 0.14m by 0.12m and a maximum of 0.05m deep; it was distinctive from the main fill.

Eighteen contexts in five features were assigned to Group 2. They were in the south-eastern part of the site, near the burials. It is not known whether they are associated with them. C64, a linear pit, was c. 2m to the north of Burial 1. It was 1.64m long, 0.4m wide at the northern end and 0.52m at the southern, narrowing to 0.3m in the centre. It was 0.4–0.5m deep; the sides were mostly undercut, especially at the east and west, and were nearly vertical at the north and south. The undercutting was probably the result of slumping. The base sloped slightly downward from the southern end. It had two fills.

The second linear pit was c. 2m to the north of C64. Two cuts were excavated, C67 and C72. The latter was adjacent to C67, on the northern side. C67 was 2.22m long, 1.57m wide at its northern end and 1.04m at its southern. It varied in depth from 0.44m in the centre of the northern end to 0.17m in the southern part. The northern, deepest part of the cut was circular with almost vertical sides and resembled a pit, while the southern extension was much shallower and linear with concave sides. It looked as if the circular section had been deliberately dug deeper. On the base of the circular area of the cut there was evidence of in situ scorching in the form of patches of reddened areas. There were four further fills in this cut. C72 was a shallow, irregularly shaped depression, measuring 0.94m by 0.2–0.4m and 0.03–0.12m deep, adjacent to the northern end of C67. It was filled with C68 and probably related to the larger cut, C67.

Sixteen contexts in five features were assigned to Group 3, in the south-western end of the site. The features were two hearths, two pits and a doughnut-shaped feature.

Post-excavation work is continuing, and therefore detailed discussion is not possible at present. Several other Bronze Age sites are in the vicinity, including the Bronze Age cemetery site at Edmondstown. Anna Brindley has identified the vessels as two vase urns and a vase dated to between 2000 BC and 1850 BC. Other specialist reports are pending.

Wood Rod, Cratloekeel, Cratloe, Co. Clare