County: Kildare Site name: Moone
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002980
Author: Liam Hackett, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1 Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Bronze Age flat cemetery, with enclosure, ring-ditch and corn-drying kilns/furnaces
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 678862m, N 694998m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.999898, -6.825119
This site was situated on a glacial outcrop of sand and gravel, with steep sides to the east and north, and enclosed by a penannular ring-ditch c. 45m in diameter, with a large entranceway on the north-eastern side. On the summit of the hill were a ring-ditch, thirteen graves containing fourteen crouched inhumation burials, a cist burial and one cremation. One further inverted urn cremation burial was found within the confines of the enclosing ditch.
The crouched inhumations ranged from shallow graves to a deep circular grave with a central rectangular grave-cut. A total of seven adults and eight juveniles were excavated, with seven decorated food vessels found accompanying some of the burials, three of which are in excellent condition. Two of the shallow graves contained double burials, possibly mother and child, and had no accompanying grave goods. One juvenile crouched burial contained a fully intact undecorated pot of coil-built construction; this individual had a contemporaneous cremation burial placed on the chest area. An adult crouched burial contained both a decorated food vessel and copper objects on the skull and rib area. Disarticulated human remains were found in three areas, with one infant burial accompanied by a pair of disarticulated feet.
Preservation on the site was excellent, and the finds from the enclosing ditch contained a huge amount of disarticulated animal bone, carved bone and antler implements, which may post-date the burial activity in the centre of the site. A white flint lozenge-shaped arrowhead and other flint and chert tools were found, both in and around the cemetery area.
Three figure-of-eight corn-drying kilns were excavated within the confines of the site, outside the enclosing ditch. One was deliberately backfilled and contained a bone needle and bronze pin. Later activity on the site took the form of post-medieval ‘lazy-beds’ and furrows.
No evidence of cairn or mound material was found in association with the burials, although these may have been removed or levelled in antiquity. Further analysis and tests of the skeletal remains, pottery, lithics, metal, soil samples and other artefacts are ongoing.
