EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
Ratoath, Co. Meath
Early Medieval Settlement-Cemetery
Grid reference: O01355215 (30135/25215)
SMR No: N/A
Excavation Licence No: 03E1300; 03E1632; 03E1781; 04E0218
Excavation duration: October 2003 – July 2004
Site director: A. Wallace, G. Dehaene (Arch-Tech Ltd.)
Excavation in advance of a large-scale residential development on the western fringe of
Ratoath village revealed a large multi-period enclosed settlement, burial, agricultural and
industrial complex (Fig. 246). Prehistoric activity consisted of a late Bronze Age ringditch and
an Iron Age ringditch and cereal-drying kilns. A settlement-cemetery enclosure and
associated agricultural and industrial features succeeded these during the early middle-ages
while later medieval activity was also identified. The site was situated on the plateau of an
east-west ridge on rich agricultural land.
The enclosure measured 40m in internal diameter and its ditch had an average width of
2.77m and was 1.22m deep. Finds from the ditch fill included animal bone, a penannular
brooch and an iron blade. The primary fill returned a date of A.D. 547-655 while an upper fill
was dated to A.D. 647-778 (see below for radiocarbon dates).
The cemetery, only partially excavated, was located in the south-east section of the
enclosure. Forty nine burials were identified and a small quantity of disarticulated human
bone was also present. The graveyard contained 32 adults, 13 juveniles, three infants and
five deposits of disarticulated human remains. The majority were aligned west-east in simple
unlined graves. Burials that deviated from this included a crouched adult lying on its left side
(Burial 12; A.D. 426-600) and an adult with its legs tightly flexed on top of the stomach area
(Burial 34; A.D. 569-671). Some extended burials were interred with grave-goods including a
young female with a copper-alloy neck-ring (Burial 38; A.D. 668-832), an adult with an iron
strap end (Burial 35), a juvenile with an iron needle and two pieces of slag (Burial 48) and an
adult – with evidence for ante-mortem injuries to the skull – with an iron knife and a small
iron fragment (Burial 46). The neck-ring is similar to an example found from a cemetery at
Bergh Apton in Norfolk (O’Brien forthcoming). This suggests possible Anglo-Saxon contacts
and cultural influences in Ratoath. Some of the burials (for example Burial 12) potentially predate
the enclosure and this is in keeping with the evidence from many settlement-cemeteries
whose origins lie in the Iron Age.
A complex series of ditches, gullies and pits were identified within the enclosure which
spanned the fourth to tenth centuries. No coherent plan for any domestic structures was
identified but some of the gullies and slot trenches undoubtedly supported timber buildings. A
series of curving gullies were identified in the south-west, north-west and north-east areas of
the enclosure and may relate to each other. They possibly formed an enclosure –
approximately 22m in diameter – but truncation, evidence for successive phases of rebuilding
and limited excavation of the interior meant identifying relationships between the
features was problematic. Some of the gullies pre-dated the enclosure construction while
others were contemporary. A substantial east-west slot-trench returned a radiocarbon date of
A.D. 809-989 which was chronologically later than a date taken from the upper fill of the
enclosure ditch. Another gully, which formed part of a boundary to the cemetery on its
western side, was dated to A.D. 685-892. The relationship between the interior features is
difficult to assess. Although no hearths were identified, some oval-shaped pits, areas of
scorching and finds from the enclosure ditches and gullies, such as large quantities of animal
bone, suggest settlement activity. A number of unstratified finds were also discovered and
are representative of habitation including complete and fragmented bone tools that were
largely associated with weaving, a spindle whorl, lignite bracelet fragments, a blue glass
bead, a fragment of an amber bead, two bone comb fragments, rubbing stones and many
miscellaneous scraps of metal. A sherd of E ware was found in the enclosure area and
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