2017:424 - Coldwinters, Dublin

The SMR files of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland indicate the location of an enclosure site – DU014-016 – within lands at Coldwinters, Co. Dublin. The existence of this possible monument was originally noted as a cropmark on an aerial photograph (CUCAP, BDQ 66) dating to 1971. The cropmark is approx. 40m in diameter and bounded to the immediate north and east by field boundaries. The lands were subsequently developed as a golf course and the field boundaries removed, making the exact location of the feature difficult to determine. The centre point of the monument is indicated on SMR mapping – www.archaeology.ie – and this location was used as the basis of a programme of archaeological testing.

No evidence of the monument was uncovered during the testing. A further review of the Aerial Photograph (CUCAP, BDQ 66) on which the monument was originally identified indicated that the cropmark enclosure feature was bounded to the north and east by field boundaries, both of which were removed when the land were used as a golf course. Based on the results of the archaeological testing and reappraisal of A/P CUCAP, BDQ 66, the monument centre is located approx. 90m to the north-east of that indicated in the SMR and possibly within a copse of tree planting (Revised Centre ITM: 712014 741886).

The remains of a previously unrecorded deposit of burnt/cremated human bone were uncovered and subsequently excavated (ITM: 711972 741892). The sampled material was submitted for processing and bone identification to Dr. Clare Mullins. In summary, the sample of cremated bone contained the remains of at least one adult or individual in late adolescence and may also have contained the remains of a child. Ageing criteria for the adult was based solely on bone size and sex could not be assigned. Virtually all of the bone was fully calcined and the bone was highly fragmented. The sample weighed 96.9g, of which 59.8g could be identified to skeletal region. Fragments of skull, axial skeleton and limb bones were identified indicating that it is unlikely that specific regions of the body were selected for ether cremation or collection for burial. The presence of a child was indicated only by a number of deciduous teeth but it is possible that other parts of the juvenile skeleton were fragmented beyond recognition. That so little bone was present in the sample may indicate that it was a token cremation. However, the find circumstances may indicate that the small sample size is due to post-depositional disturbance of the remains. A sample of the bone was submitted to the Chrono-Lab, Queens University Belfast (QUB) for Carbon-14 dating but a date could not be achieved

Byrne mullins & Asociates, 7 Cnoc na Greine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare