County: Kildare Site name: Klirathmurray Quarry, Kilrathmurray
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 16E0672
Author: Donald Murphy
Site type: Bronze Age burial
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 665125m, N 740823m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.413511, -7.020399
Excavation was carried out at Kilrathmurray, Co. Kildare of a burial uncovered during a quarry extension. The site is located 7.9km south-east of Kinnegad, and is situated in undulating pasture on a south-east to north-west ridge of glacial material extending from Ballykane Hill.
The burial was identified in the quarry face during extraction on 28 November 2016 and human bones and a skull were collected by the ICF Project Archaeologist. These were recorded as disarticulated remains. The remaining human remains were recorded as Burial 1 and were excavated in January 2017. The area around the burial pit was examined and the spoil from the quarry face was sieved for additional remains and artefacts. The pit itself had maximum dimensions of 2m by 0.95m by 0.3m and was backfilled with redeposited natural sandy gravel.
This work was carried out on behalf of Kilsaran Build in compliance with a condition for monitoring from An Bord Pleanala.
The human remains were analysed by Alan Russell, Osteoarchaeologist. For the purpose of this analysis the skeletal remains recovered during the monitoring phase of works (skull and disarticulated remains) and the skeletal remains recovered during the excavation phase of works (Burial 1) were analysed separately. All the skeletal remains recovered were from the same individual. Burial 1 is an adult inhumation and the age-at-death is estimated to be an Old Adult 50+ years based on extensive spinal osteoarthritis. The disarticulated skull discovered during topsoil stripping supports the estimated age-at-death. The skull yielded extensive ante-mortem tooth loss, complete alveolar bone resorption and external maxillary draining abscess. The burial was radiocarbon dated to the Middle Bronze Age (Cal BC 1390-1130; 3020 +/-30 BP). No grave goods were recovered. No additional archaeological features or deposits were recorded during the monitoring or excavation phase of work.
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