County: Westmeath Site name: WILLIAMSTOWN (BGE 1B/98/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0362
Author: Bernice Molloy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Cremation pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 656218m, N 759287m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.580452, -7.151041
The site was on the top of a low hill. There was a small stream c. 30m to the west. The site itself was well drained, but the land to the east and west was liable to flooding. The pipeline passed through a tract of bog c. 500m to the east. There was no evidence of any form of enclosure, such as a ditch, around the site.
All of the pits were cut into natural subsoil. The cuts were uniform: all pits had gradually curving sides and rounded concave bases, but they varied considerably in size. Excavation revealed seventeen pits, five containing cremated bone. It was not possible to establish a stratigraphic relationship, as all of the pits were cut into natural subsoil. Given the uniformity of the features, it is likely that they are all contemporaneous.
The amount of cremated bone from most of the pits was almost insignificant; most of the bone fragments were very small. They were white and chalky in texture, suggesting that they may have been crushed before deposition. It is unlikely, given the small amount of cremated bone in each deposit, that any pit contained a complete individual.
There was no evidence of any in situ burning around the pits, and it is likely that the cremation ritual did not take place on-site. Nor was there evidence of a pyre. One pit, F25, contained considerable amounts of charcoal, and this may be material from a pyre.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
