2002:0631 - MURPHYSTOWN (Site 6), Murphystown/ Carmanhall and Leopardstown, Dublin

The site was discovered during pre-development topsoil-stripping. Fourteen potential features (A–N) were discovered. L and M were subsequently excavated as Site 65M under a separate licence (see No. 478, Excavations 2002, 02E0330); A and D were found to have no archaeological significance. The site comprised part of the valley of a stream, which had been straightened in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the surroundings landscaped as ornamental grounds.

B, C and F were pits containing burnt clay, charcoal and fragments of burnt animal bone. F was the most complete, the other two being truncated. It was approximately circular, 1.15m in diameter and 0.24m deep. At the top of this pit was an incomplete human skeleton. Only the skull, upper arms and upper thorax were present. It lay on top of the pit fill but was entirely within the circumference of the pit and appeared to be associated with it.

E was a possible hill-wash deposit near the base of the slope of the valley side. It consisted of grey silty soil containing some charcoal and pieces of waste flint.

G, on a flat area above the slope, was an inhumation cemetery. Seven wholly or partly intact skeletons were found, along with thirteen isolated bones or groups of bone. The burials were extended inhumations without grave-goods, oriented east–west, with the heads toward the west. One, however, was oriented north-east/south-west.

H, a dark spread at the base of the slope, measured 14m by 10m and consisted of layers of grey/black, charcoal-rich soil and some decayed granite. It resembled a fulacht fiadh deposit, but no pits or troughs were found underneath or nearby. Two parallel gullies or drains were found near this. One was 7.5m long, 0.75–1.1m wide and 0.7m deep. It ran along the northern side of the second gully, with only a narrow strip of 0.05m separating them. The second gully was 10m long, 0.9m wide and 0.5m deep. They were both filled with dark grey/black, charcoal-rich, sandy soil mixed with charcoal and decayed stones.

Feature I was a stone-filled drain at the top of the slope. It was 12.87m long, c. 0.6m wide and 0.1–0.14m deep. The finds included the base of a glass bottle and two sherds of white china, suggesting a recent date. Nearby was a shallow depression, approximately oval and measuring 1.84m by 1.12m, with charcoal present in the fill.

J was a double pit at the top of the slope and had a figure-of-eight plan. It was 2.24m long and oriented approximately north–south. The eastern half was 1.12m in diameter and 0.25m deep. The western half was 0.84m in diameter and 0.1m deep. The fill comprised burnt red clay and black, charcoal-rich, silty soil containing some fragments of burnt animal bone. A patch of grey silty soil with charcoal was found 7m farther east, also on top of the slope, but on excavation it was found to overlie a modern stone drain.

K was a strip of dark, charcoal-rich soil with decayed granite, running along the south bank of the stream. It was up to 0.3m deep and overlay the natural subsoil. To the south it was cut by a French drain in which a sherd of modern china was found.

N was on the slope and contained four dark patches of charcoal. Two of these represented circular pits, 1.5m and 0.92m in diameter. The other two were natural hollows. All four contained soil with charcoal fragments. There was no trace of in situ burning, and no finds were recovered.

13 Wainsfort Crescent, Dublin 6W