2019:613 - Glebelands Housing Estate, Graysland, Athy, Kildare

The reporting by the developer of the chance discovery of a single human skull during the excavation of a water service trench within a residential development led to consultation with An Garda Síochána, the coroner’s office and the heritage authorities and ultimately to the requirement for archaeological monitoring of the excavation of the completion of a service trench.
The skull was found at 1.7m below present ground level in sandy soil. The find area was carefully trowelled back by hand to ensure that all fragments of the skull were safely retrieved and to assess whether there was any further in-situ or disarticulated skeletal remains; a small amount of skull fragments were recovered. No grave cut or associated archaeological features were identified in the trench or section faces. The soil up-cast from the trench was examined for any additional fragments, none however were identified.
Osteoarchaeological analysis (Tobin 2019) indicated that the skull comprised an almost complete adult cranial vault and small quantity of internal fragments, it was in good condition with slight post-mortem surface erosion evident. Assessment of the limited features present suggest that this skull represents a female who had reached middle adulthood (c. 30–45 years) by their time of death with no evidence for pathology or trauma being observed. The skeletal remains have been radiocarbon dated to the Late Iron Age (a 2-sigma calibrated date range of AD 321– 428) at which time cremation was the dominant burial custom in Ireland.
From the field evidence the skull did not appear to have been associated with a monument, although given the ground disturbance, the depths at which the skull was found and the formation levels of the development, the presence of a subsurface site cannot be entirely ruled out. There have been no previous archaeological investigations within the proposed development site or in the townland of Graysland and there are no recorded monuments located within or adjacent to the current building site. A barrow site (KD035-064) in Shanrath East is located 800m to the east, with a ringfort and souterrain recorded a short distance beyond it (KD035-025001 & 002), while Ardree Church, graveyard, and deserted medieval settlement (KD035-032001, 002 & 003) are located 600m to the south-south-west.
Burial ritual is less well defined in the Iron Age than in other periods of Irish prehistory. Unprotected crouched inhumation burial was practiced within a very limited period around this time (first and second centuries AD) within the defined geographical region of north-east Leinster (O’Brien 1990, Cahill Wilson 2012, after Tobin 2019). While it is probable that the skull from Graysland had been disturbed from a formal grave, there is also the possibility that it represents the burial of a disarticulated head (Tobin 2019). Alternative burial practices such as this therefore raise questions regarding a person’s socio-economic role and cause of death.
No other archaeological features, finds or deposits were found in the remainder of the pipeline trench monitoring.

References:
Cahill Wilson, J. (2012) Lost in Translation: rethinking our approach to the archaeology of the later Iron Age. In C. Corlett and M. Potterton (eds) Life and Death in Iron Age Ireland in the light of recent archaeological excavations, 15–33. Dublin: Wordwell.

O’Brien, E. (1990) Iron Age Burial Practices in Leinster: continuity and change. Emania 7, 37–42.

Tobin, M. (2019) Osteological Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains from ‘Glebelands’ Residential Development, Graysland, Athy, Co. Kildare. Unpublished report for IAC Ltd on behalf of Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy.

Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy, Lynwood House, Ballinteer Road, Dublin 16.