EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
‘Madden’s Hill’, Kiltale, Co. Meath
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure and Cemetery
Grid reference: N896265405 (289266/254050)
SMR No: ME037-025
Excavation License No: N/A
Excavation duration/year: 1966 (2-week excavation)
Site director: E. Rynne (National Museum)
A short excavation was undertaken in Kiltale townland after human bones were discovered
while quarrying for sand. An enclosure, souterrain and earlier cemetery were revealed on top
of an esker at approximately 91m OD (Fig. 243).
The enclosure was almost circular in plan and measured 40m by 30m. Two sections through
the ditch revealed it was V-shaped and averaged 2.5m wide and 1.7m deep. Large quantities
of animal bone were evident in the ditch fill and notably near the bottom. The only other find
from this area was a furnace bottom. At least two phases were detected within the ditch
deposits.
A souterrain was built on the enclosure ditch fill and part, or all, of it would have extended
under the bank when it had existed. It consisted of a short passage and chamber and the
latter was situated within the enclosure ditch. The passage was 1.3m in length and narrowed
in width from 0.75m at the entrance to 0.55m at its junction with the chamber. It was 0.7m
high at the former and 0.6m in height at the later. The chamber measured 1.7m by 1.5m in
width and was approximately 0.6m high. The passage and chamber walls were constructed
with small rounded boulders but no roof lintels were uncovered. This suggests that the
souterrain was never finished, the lintels were taken in antiquity or it was roofed with lengths
of timbers. A small quantity of charcoal was found on the passage floor.
A number of extended burials, whose orientation varied, were located immediately to the
south-east of the enclosure. The enclosure also cut through a number of burials and
therefore post-dated the initial use of the cemetery. Recent farming activities – identified as
traces of lazy beds – also resulted in the incomplete survival of many burials.
A natural mound 30m south-east of the enclosure was also utilised as a burial ground. Again,
the orientation of the burials varied and many were disturbed and incomplete. The majority
of the skeletons were those of children. A three-sided rectangular-shaped enclosure,
demarcated by a setting of stones, was found near the centre and within the upper part of
the mound. It was open to the south-west and measured 1.5m by 1.3m. This feature did not
cut or interfere with any of the burials and no finds or traces of bone were found in
association. Therefore, its function remains unclear.
Although the area between the mound and enclosure was not excavated due to time
constraints, further burials were identified there during later clearance of the subsoil by the
landowner.
A lack of radiocarbon dates from the site hampers interpretation. However, the enclosure
ditch cut through some burials which shows the first activity on site was related to burial
activity. Many of the burials were disturbed and truncated and their orientation varied. It may
be postulated that the initial focus at the site centred on the natural mound which was used
as a cemetery sometime during the latter part of the Iron Age and during the early middleages.
The cemetery probably expanded in size and utilised the area outside the mound to the
northwest. The enclosure and souterrain cut these later burials and represented the final
early medieval phase at Kiltale. If the children within the mound came from its upper levels,
this may represent a post medieval cillín cemetery and final use of the site.
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