County: Laois Site name: Borris Great
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LA013-126--- Licence number: 15E0539
Author: Aidan Harte
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 647556m, N 701336m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.060540, -7.290534
Rescue excavation was carried over three days in November 2015. The triangular burial ground, measuring approximately 28m x 17m, has been used as a private sand quarry in recent decades and human remains were noted in the north-facing quarry face. One full burial and one heavily truncated burial were excavated. The exposed elements of a third grave were recovered, as were five instances of bone found ex situ at the base of the quarry face. Three further probable grave cuts were recorded and remain in situ, with no human remains exposed. The findings of the excavation confirm that at least six burials were present at the site, excluding the remains recovered in 1993 (NMS file F9456081). These burials appear to have taken place during a single phase of use, indicated by the organised layout of graves orientated east-west, across at least 2 north-south rows. No artefacts were recovered during the excavation and there was no evidence for coffins or grave lining. The grave cuts were all found to be shallow and while any dating of the burial ground from this limited excavation is tenuous, it might be postulated at this stage that the burial ground dates to the early medieval period.
The human remains recovered during the investigation indicate the interment of both adults and children, male and female. The complete skeleton of a female, aged 20-25, was recovered and showed degeneration of the spine and ribs, healed traumas to the head/neck and ribs, poor dental health and evidence of stress in early life. No cause of death could be determined. The other articulated skeletal remains were too fragmentary for extensive analysis, but represent adult remains.
The quarry face in which these remains had become exposed is up to 3.8m in height and burials are evident across a 14m span of the quarry running north-east/south-west. As the subsoil is composed of sands and gravels, this face is quite vulnerable to further disturbance/erosion. Future archaeological work will be needed to address the remaining human remains evident within the quarry face and should include the osteoarchaeological analysis of the skeletal remains recovered in the 1990s and the radiocarbon dating of this material.
Munster Archaeology, Upper Kilmoney Rd, Carrigaline Co. Cork
