EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
this area became the new focus for cereal-processing. The ditch was open between the mid
seventh and early ninth centuries and a rare iron horse snaffle was retrieved from its fill.
A stone-built souterrain – located within the defined area – also belonged to this phase.
The scale of cereal processing during Phase III was further demonstrated by the construction
of two water mills. Southern Mill 1 and Southern Mill 4 produced similar radiocarbon dates;
the former was dated to A.D. 660-782 and the latter returned a date of A.D. 653-772.
Burial continued during this phase both within and outside the main enclosure.
During Phase IV (AD 700-900), a new substantial mill in the southern mill complex, Southern
Mill 5, was constructed, the sub-rectangular enclosure was backfilled and settlement
continued in the southern section of the site. Evidence for the latter consisted of a series of
hearths, gullies and a refuse pit. The pit contained hearth rake-out, a ringed pin, animal bone
and cereal remains.
Large-scale cereal processing was evident for the first time during this phase on the northern
part of the site through the construction of a mill whose millrace utilised the east-west part of
the sub-rectangular enclosure. The stone stone-built cereal-drying kiln in the northern
habitation area was still in use and was dated to A.D. 799-975.
The burial enclosure contained a single burial from this phase which was dated to A.D. 766-
898.
A second water mill (Northern Mill 2) replaced the initial mill in the northern part of the site
during Phase V (AD 900-1150). It was constructed between A.D. 887-1017 and used a
different water-source from the one used by Northern Mill 1. It was abandoned during the
twelfth century. Settlement evidence during this phase included a hearth and a baking-slab,
gullies and metalling, slot-trenches of a possible rectangular building and a further series of
hearths that were associated with this building.
Another mill (the Central Mill) was constructed and cut many of the main features in the
southern area during Phase V. It is likely that the Southern Mill Complex had fallen out of use
by this time.
A single burial in the cemetery (dating to A.D. 809-989) belongs to this phase while the
presence of a late eleventh- to mid twelfth-century stickpin within the burial ground suggests
the possibility that burial continued until this time. Settlement evidence is also suggested by
the presence two candle holders dating between the mid eleventh and thirteenth centuries.
The site was abandoned during the twelfth century as attested to by the small quantities of
late medieval pottery from the site.
The Cemetery
Half of the cemetery was within the road-take and excavation revealed 93 articulated burials
(68 adults, three adolescents, 20 juveniles and two older infants) while a further 40 burials
were indicated by the presence of disarticulated bones scattered around the area.
Geophysical survey suggests that a total of between 300 and 400 burials may have been
present if the density of burials was similar outside the road-take and burial continued at the
same rate as those revealed during excavation. The radiocarbon dates suggest the majority
of burials took place during the first three phases and decreased in numbers thereafter.
Seventy-three burials were identified within the inner enclosure and many of the central ones
were inter-cut. They were mainly extended, orientated west-east, and in shallow and unlined
graves. The majority of children who died between the ages of one and eight were buried in
a specified area to the south of the penannular enclosure. Noteworthy aspects of burial at
Raystown included evidence of violent deaths for two males and the burial of a male in a
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