2019:643 - Scholarstown Road, Knocklyon, Dublin

Excavation of a settlement/cemetery site at Scholarstown Road, Knocklyon, Co. Dublin was undertaken between November 2018 and March 2019. The site was identified following geophysical survey (18R0112; J. Nichols) and test excavation (18E0458; A. O’Connell). Full excavation at the site confirmed the presence of the settlement/cemetery as recorded in the course of geophysical survey and test trench assessment. The earth-cut ditch was 1.8-2.3m wide by 1.5m deep and would have enclosed an area of roughly 1700 sq. m. Significant portions of the enclosure ditch between the south-western and eastern sides were either disturbed or removed by previous sewerage infrastructure works at the site.
The ditch stratigraphy suggests three phases of activity. The initial two phases are dated to the mid-7th/mid-8th century AD by radiocarbon dating. The third phase is dated to the late Medieval/Anglo-Norman period (AD 1200-1600) by artefact association. Two sherds of green glazed medieval pottery were collected from the upper levels of the ditch. Additional finds from this phase included a bone pin, a possible whetstone and a possible iron knife fragment.
Eighty-three articulated inhumation burials were recorded within the enclosure interior. The main concentration of graves was a dense cluster of 78 inhumations in the southern/central part of the enclosure interior. These burials date from the fifth-eleventh century AD. A further 5 burials were located c. 15m to the north-west and date to the late medieval period. The burials were supine, extended, and aligned west-east, although some minor variations were noted in the body positions. Of the 83 burials, there were 49 adult, 2 sub-adult, 16 juvenile, 2 infant and 2 perinate skeletons. The remaining 12 skeletons were not aged. As a result of physical truncation by later burials, and acidic soil conditions at the site, the skeletal remains were in a poor state of preservation. Many graves contained very little or no human bone. Typically for sites of this nature, disarticulated human bone was found in topsoil, and was also found in grave fills. In a number of cases, disarticulated bone was collected and reinterred with later burials or in dug pits. Burials were placed in simple earth-cut graves. Evidence for possible lining did not survive, although possible ear-muff stones and/or pillow stones were recorded in 19 instances. There was no evidence uncovered for an additional enclosing element (e.g. a palisade or fence) immediately surrounding the burial area other than the main enclosure ditch. There was no direct stratigraphic relationship between the burials and the enclosure ditch.
Additional features within the interior included pits, post-holes, and two smithing furnaces which potentially suggest settlement activity. A collection of post-holes south-west of the main cemetery area may be the remains of a rectangular structure, although it is unknown if this was domestic in nature or associated with the metalworking activity.

Archer Heritage Planning, 8 Beat Centre, Stephenstown, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin.