EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
Collierstown 1, Co. Meath
Early Medieval Enclosed Cemetery
Grid reference: N94745882 (294743/258825)
SMR: N/A
Excavation Licence No: A008/015
Excavation duration: September 2006 –April 2007
Site director: R. O’Hara (ACS Ltd.)
Collierstown 1 excavated in advance of the M3 road scheme, was a cemetery that was
utilised from potentially the mid fifth until the late ninth century. The burial ground was
initially constructed as a number of segmented ditches, possibly beneath a mound, and
expanded through a succession of enclosures to incorporate a larger number of internments
(Fig. 233). The site was situated on a slight ridge on the east bank of the Gabhra River at
120m OD.
The earliest burial at Collierstown 1 was a female who was centrally placed within an area
defined by two shallow curvilinear ditches that formed an approximately circular enclosure
(Phase I enclosure; 15m by 17m). The enclosure was roughly circular-shaped in plan with an
entrance potentially to the north. Finds from the ditch fills included quantities of animal bone,
trace inclusions of charcoal, and a sherd of Late Roman Amphora (Bii ware). The latter was
from a later deposit and probably relates to subsequent phases. The female burial (dated to
A.D. 423-594) was interred in a simple extended unlined grave and was orientated west-east.
She was buried with a deposit of burnt clay, charcoal and burnt pig bone covering the pelvic
area and so was potentially non-Christian. A low mound may have covered this grave
because later burials were inserted into stratigraphically higher levels. A further eight
inhumations, extended west-east and in dug and partially stone-lined graves, were interred
centrally within the Phase I enclosure and represent the first phase of burial activity at
Collierstown (Group 1 burials). The absence of children within this group suggested it was not
a familial plot but may have been reserved for socially high-ranking adult members of the
community (Elizabeth O’Brien, pers. comm.) This enclosure was largely truncated by later
enclosures which, for a time, maintained a similar shape.
Phase II witnessed the construction of a series of curvilinear, segmented ditches that were
broadly contemporary and were re-cut on a number of occasions (Phase II enclosure; ditch
feature numbers F24, F63, F195, F196, F288). Many of the ditches cut through and
maintained the shape of Enclosure 1.
F63 - The first north-south curvilinear ditch measured 24m by 2.38m by 0.68m (length by
width by depth) and was re-cut once. The primary deposit included moderate to frequent
amounts of animal bone; some of which was burnt and traces of charcoal. The latter was
radiocarbon dated to A.D. 427-608. The ditch re-cut fill included burnt and un-burnt animal
bone and a tiny quantity of slag which suggests possible evidence for iron working at the site
during this phase. High status artefacts included two sherds of imported pottery. These were
identified as a rim sherd of Phocaean Red Slip Ware, produced in the eastern Mediterranean
between the fifth and seventh centuries, and a fragment of E ware, which dates to the mid
sixth and seventh centuries. Another prestige item was a rare complete whalebone sword hilt
which survived in two pieces.
F288 – This curvilinear ditch appeared continuous with the above but they were two separate
ditches. It measured 16m by 1.8m by 0.75m and was orientated east-west. The primary cut
contained both burnt and un-burnt animal bone. The re-cut contained small amounts of
animal bone; of which frequent amounts were burnt, charcoal and traces of land snail and
shellfish. Finds included fragments of unidentified iron objects, a flint flake and a bone gorge
used for fishing.
F195 – This ditch was orientated approximately northeast-southwest and followed the
alignment of the Phase 1 enclosure ditch. It measured 11.1m by 1.36m by 0.56m and was re-
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