Page 47 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 9

into simple pits. Other grave goods were occasionally deposited
and these included bronze knives and daggers, flint tools, stone
3
maceheads and ornaments of pottery, stone or faience (a glass-
like substance).

Bronze age graves often occur singly, i.e. in isolation from the
next nearest burial, and while most graves contain the remains
of only one person 30-40% of the burials were of two or more
(including some of five or more) individuals. Many burials were,
however, put into cemeteries which contained between three
and sixty or more graves. The cemeteries were either unmarked,
i.e. there was apparently no above ground marker for the graves,
5
4
or in mounds (or cairns ). In the latter cases it is often possible
to determine which are the earliest and which are the later
graves.

Carrig cairn

At Carrig, Co. Wicklow (see illustration below) a circular cairn
(17m in diameter) was excavated (by Eoin Grogan and Eamon
Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland) following its discovery
by the owner in the course of land improvement work. The cairn
had become denuded before the beginning of this century but
the essential elements and the burials which it covered remained
largely undisturbed. The cairn covered several burials which
were deposited in the period between 2000 and 1000 BC and
the evidence suggests that the same community or family lived
in the area during this period and this was their burial ground.
Other cairns or mounds may have been used by the same group.

The earliest burials were in cists but later on simple pits or

3 Elaborate stone hammer used as a weapon.
4 Pile of earth, or earth and stones, usually circular in shape, used, for
example, to cover prehistoric burials.
5 Mounds of stone.
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