a unique middle bronze age cemetery at oakgrove, co. londonderry

A unique Middle Bronze Age cemetery at Oakgrove, Co. Londonderry

Robert M Chapple

Dedication:

Robert F Chapple (1941-2012) & Billy Dunlop (1920-2011)

1st century AD Roman Villa at Hadleigh, Suffolk

Where are we talking about?

● PS: I don't care whether you call it Derry or Londonderry

Thornhill (Neolithic)

Enagh (Neolithic)

Shantallow (Bronze Age)

County as a whole: lots of BA sites & finds, but concentrated in the EBA & LBA. Other than Corrstown, the MBA is largely absent

Ballynashallog (Bronze Age)

Rough Island (Bronze Age)

Mesolithic surface find

EBA Burnt Mound

Early Christian site: Dergbruagh

Site 19

Early Neolithic sites (2)

●Site 7: Late Mesolithic flint ●Site 11: Early Neolithic ritual (?) pits ●Site 12: Early Neolithic structure (?) ●Site 10: Early Bronze Age burnt mound ●Site 19: Middle Bronze Age cemetery & Iron Age structure ●Remainder: broadly prehistoric, but undated

In advance of construction of Oakgrove Integrated College school buildings, playing fields etc.

Monitoring & Excavation: Sites 1-12: June-November 2002 (UJA 67, 2008) Sites 13-17: July 2003 (BAR 521, 2010) Sites 18-20: October 2003-January 2004 (BAR 521, 2010)

● Sites 13-19

Site 19

Surface finds: Metal slag Pottery: portions of 3 BA coarse

ware vessels Various flints (débitage to

finished pieces) flint knife - possibly intended to

be hafted

● Surface find

large unfinished

perforated macehead - heavily damaged blade-end

● Surface find

● Natural stone or rubber stone for saddle quern?

● Vaguely axe shaped – significant?

● Anatomy of site 19

● Enclosure ditch


● Enclosure ditch ● Segmented circle


● Enclosure ditch ● Segmented circle ● Cemetery of atypical cists


● Enclosure ditch ● Segmented circle ● Cemetery of atypical cists ● Intermediate features

(including a second circle)


● Enclosure ditch ● Segmented circle ● Cemetery of atypical cists ● Intermediate features

(including a second circle) ● Iron Age metal working

structure

Iron Age Structure

● 6 post holes & 2 stake holes

5.93m x 5.39m

Missing post hole?

Open sided?

No walls? - just posts?

Hearth & stake holes

● Interpreted as windbreak for hearth

● Iron slag in the hearth, adjacent pits etc.

● Interpreted as smithy/secondary workshop

14C: 2187±46 BP (385-113 cal BC) from wood charcoal from hearth [old wood?] Traditional ‘Iron Age lull’ … Parallels: Johnstown 1, Co Meath Muckerstown, Site 13b, Co Meath Hardwood 3, Co Meath … but even relative to other aspects of the IA – pretty slim! Should underline the importance of Gransha site.

Pebbled surface

● Small, but important area

● Compact pebbled surface, overlain by out-wash from the enclosing ditch

● Suggests: close to original ground surface & that little truncation has occurred (at least here)

The enclosure ditch

Total length: 70.42m Enclosed: c.367m2

Max: 0.79m in width and 0.68m depth

Cut through shallow subsoil & into shale bedrock

The enclosure ditch

Total length: 70.42m Enclosed: c.367m2

Max: 0.79m in width and 0.68m depth

Cut through shallow subsoil & into shale bedrock

Excavated in 47 box sections

(BSs: A-AV)

BS: A-B

Large post pit, predating ditch Contained 1 sherd of BA coarse ware Back-filled with rounded field stones

[vs. broken shale in ditch + c. 2.67m3 from post pit] … ritual?

14C: 3350±21 BP (1730-1536 cal BC)

from wood charcoal in post pipe … beginning of the MBA: oldest phase of Site 19

● Thin shale slabs used as direct post packing

● What would the post have looked like?

1:3 ratio: minimum length of 5m, with 3.75m visible above ground. 1m3 of green oak = 1.07 tonnes => volume of c 0.27m3 & 284.06kg Many caveats but suggests a substantial timber: visible for some considerable distance around

such a ‘special’ timber: may have been richly decorated …

One option: Native American Indian style totem poles

Alternatives: painted decoration Textile Bone/antler/shell

Problem: nothing like this has ever been found in Ireland Alternatives?

crude and sexually ambiguous figure from Ralaghan, county Cavan


a) Ralaghan, Co. Cavan b) Dagenham (Essex) England c) Ballachulish (Argyll) Scotland d) Teigngrace (Devon) England e) Montbouy (Loiret) France


Fellbach-Schmiden, Germany: later - La Tene Iron Age

Also IA: sandstone figure from

Holzgerlingen (right) with a copy of the 'stone knight' from Glauberg (left)

Corlea 1, Co. Longford. Trackway dated to 148 BC (Q5631) Anthropomorphic figure carved on the end of a 3m long ash trunk

Photos reproduced by permission from: Raftery, B. 1996 Trackway Excavations in the Mountdillon Bogs, Co. Longford, 1985-1991, Dublin.

● By the time of the enclosing ditch, post had been removed & carefully back filled

● Some portions of the ditch (N & NE) faced with slabs. Function? [palisade fence?] Why just here?

BS: AJ

Find: broken, polishing/grinding stone, with a superficial axe blade end

Unusual section: base of ditch ground down – smooth & even

Pottery in the ditch

● Identified 17 vessels (1-33 sherds) 1: cinerary urn with perforated rim 16: plain Bronze Age coarse ware

Cinerary urn

Paralleled: ring barrow at Mullaghmore, Co Down. But: pre 14C. Dating is problematic: EBA-IA

17 vessels ● But all sherds not together


● for example: Fragments of vessel 19:10 were discovered in

nine different box sections (BSs: I, H, G, E, D, A, AV, AU & W).

Seemed to be 3 distinct clusters (BSs: I-G, E-D

& A-AU) , + ‘outlier’ in BS: W. Excluding BS: W – 1 vessel distributed over c.

14.37m.


● for example: vessel 19:02 deposited across 8 box sections

(BSs: I-E, AV, AT & AR) Distributed over c. 19.61m

Repeated across majority of vessels

Main concentration: BSs: K-AR

(c. 25.28m) Outliers: BSs: W, R & AE Pottery: mostly from top of fill.

Possible truncation: BSs: AQ-AB

Flint & stone

● Even more extreme

Distribution: BSs: K- B (c. 9.38m) + outliers Even discounting possible truncation: no pot or

flint in the W & NW I suggest: different rituals? Different parts of

the ditch have different cultural significance? – required different ritual responses?

Perishable materials?: wood, leather, liquids?

Entrance?

● Nothing definite

BSs: AI-AJ – ground down smooth – not hacked polishing/grinding stone, with a superficial axe

blade end – only non-flint lithic from ditch

● Significant?

Broken? Axe-like? Part of a 'closing

ceremony'?

The external ditch Largest single feature within the complex Function: enclose/define the funerary/ritual area of the site I suggest: relatively late in life cycle of site [insufficient charcoal for date] Late date: explains irregularities of shape – not just concerned with the SW segmented circle & cists: ie – NE segmented circle. Also: ‘kink’ in E portion of ditch – need to link the large post pit to the rest of the site?

Conceived as a response to decay of the post and palisade/screen at segmented inner circle & NE pit circle. Probably held manifold meanings 1) simple: define & protect sacred space 2) complex: social and religious symbolism Speculation: Digging heralded changes in ritual practice, or even social polity?

What did this enclosure look like? narrow ditch (maximum width: 0.79m) Some portions – slab lined – possibly for palisade fence – but no direct evidence of posts. Late ritual action: remove posts & backfill – possibly at same time as deposition of flint & pottery: part of closing ritual?

Inner ditch

4 sections: diameter of c 12.2m 8 EBA-MBA coarse ware vessels + various flints MBA 14C date from C19212 3263±24 BP

(1613-1461 cal BC)

● Laid our from central stake hole … but on two different circles

ish

original form: palisaded fence? 1:3 ratio: fence 1.20m with 0.90m

projecting.

ish

no evidence for planks/posts. Fence didn’t exist? Fence removed? Finds deposited as part of ‘backfilling ritual’?

Central cemetery

contained 44 features. 13 pits 2 post holes 13 stake holes 1 possible gully 1 depression 14 atypical cists

Slab sides 2-7

Only 3 survived

12 cists had grain

Ranging form a few grains to >70,000 V few wheat (3 cists) – mostly barley: naked & 6-row

varieties predominated

A quick note about that grain ...

● McClatchie: remains of funeral meals ● A large proportion of the charred grain was

fragmentary/damaged. ● Interpreted as evidence of movement prior to deposition in

cists

Big Problem!

C1976 – 10 frags of bone (2g) Unidentifiable – comminution? In bag/wrapper? Directly below grain-rich layer

F19275 c2,500 charred cereal grains & fragments. 80% subsample of grain (2063 grains): barley (naked & 6-row varieties) + 1 wheat grain.

F19276 +5 frags of bone + 608 charred cereal grains

All E-MBA Coarse wares

Within segmented inner ditch: 4

coarse ware vessels

1 cordoned urn

Layout No particular pattern: clustering towards SE Central area kept clear: ritual/ceremonial? What did they look like? Those with capstones were level with bedrock – perhaps above ground markers – small cairns? Speculation: Unfinished macehead & rubbing stone found near C19192– from such a marker deposit? Grain + rubbing stone … added symbolic value?

Other features produced artefacts (flint & pottery) of probable comparable date but did not have slab-covered sides. All produced grain. None produced cremated bone. Location inside the segmented circle does raise questions as to their ritual significance. Possible: ‘cists’ are cenotaphic & lack of bone may suggest similar function to the slab-lined cists. If the ritual here is actually about the deposition of grain – then possibly of equal ritual status to the slab-lined cists

Another big post pit ...

● Quartz (top) & flint scrapers from backfill ● 2 charred barley grains from post pipe

● 1:3 ratio: minimum length of 2.04m, with 1.53m visible above ground.

● 1m3 of green oak = 1.07 tonnes => volume of c 0.30m3 & 321.36kg

A quick word about alignments

Central stakehole: Functional: used to draw segmented circle: similar to embanked stone circle at Grange, Co. Limerick Speculation: alignments 1) between pit & circle segment via large post (NE) 2) along edge of large post inside circle and edge of circle segment (NW) Untested!

The 'Intermediate features'

disparate collection of 20 features

10 produced evidence of BA date: various flint & BA Coarse Ware pottery. None had grain or bone

● Just an area of shallow pits? ...

Warning! … wild speculation & conjecture!

A second Segmented

circle?

Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is ...

● IF these features are actually part of a

unit … what would it have looked like?

● Palisaded fence? ● Sockets for orthostats?

● … LBA recumbent circle of 14 stones at Ballycraigy, Co Antrim - ‘flat-rimmed ware’ pottery and cremated bone from an associated ditch … unfortunately not published.

Different circle … different function …

Important: no evidence of bone/funerary activity

No evidence of charred grain Whatever is going on here is not

part of the same form of ritual/ceremonial/funerary activity as the SW segmented circle

Analogy: modern Christian worship Speculation: evidence for a demarcation between varying levels of ritual exclusivity: access is controlled between various grades of sanctified space and more public places.

The function of the cists Small quantities of bone: suggests only token deposits placed here Context: mean weight of bone from cremation of an adult male: 2288g (range: 1534g to 3605g) mean weight of bone from cremation of an adult female: 1550g (range 952g to 2278g) Cist C19274 (larger of two deposits): 8g

Comparison: Loughbrickland Excavations With one exception human bone from primary burial contexts ranged from 12.2g to 1602.7g (mean: 557g) Survival of capstones indicate that these were cists (if atypical) – not stone-lined pits/postholes Possible: rituals did not necessarily involve deposition of any human remains Speculation: carbonised grain, flint or pottery acted as a ‘substitute corpse’ in token burial or synecdochic cists.

Parallels for Middle Bronze Age burial: the background

Cooney and Grogan (Cooney & Grogan 1994; Grogan 2004) argue: continuity between the burials of the EBA to the LBA, through the MBA. Grogan (2004): MBA downturn in climatic conditions => increased votive deposition within wetland areas, + increase in the use of trackways. MBA: coarse domestic vessels introduced into the burial record - replacing the cordoned urn by 1500-1400 cal BC. Emerging trends: 1) general decrease in the proportion of the skeletal remains buried (frequently <1%) Grogan (2004, 69) dates: c 1300-1000 cal BC (burials containing a large % of the cremated individual still occur (eg Loughbrickland) Bone: frequently so heavily processed (comminuted), through crushing or pounding, as to be unidentifiable (<5mm) + pyre material incorporated

Parallels for Middle Bronze Age burial: the background

2) only a small portion of a vessel with the buried remains. Degree of comminution may parallel change from whole to partial vessels. Cooney & Grogan (1994) : portion of cremated remains + sherds may have been used and dispersed as part of an extended or multi-stage (phased) funerary ceremony. => as much emphasis on act of cremation & funeral ritual (+ curation) as in deposition in grave.

Barley as food offering Parallels with formal barrows at: Mitchelstowndown West, Co Limerick Lissard-Ballynamona complex : no evidence of any cremated bone. Grogan (2004) suggests: cenotaphic commemoration without necessity for human remains

Most MBA burials: unaccompanied cremations in unlined pits Some: stone-lined pits, occasionally covered by small capstones Parallels: Baurnadomeeny, Co Tipperary (O’Kelly 1960) Monknewtown, Co Meath (Sweetman 1976) Lough Gur, Co Limerick (Cleary 1995) Moylisha, Co Wicklow (Ó h-Iceadha 1946)

Closest parallel for the Gransha Site 19: Duntryleague 2, Co Limerick

Atypical ring barrow (F1), defined by a ‘gapped trench’


Atypical ring barrow (F1), defined by a ‘gapped trench’ Enclosed by a curvilinear ditch (F12)


Atypical ring barrow (F1), defined by a ‘gapped trench’ Enclosed by a curvilinear ditch (F12) Intermediate area: various features including a pit small quantity of unidentifiable, burnt bone (F11)

A quantity of coarse, undecorated pottery was also recovered from the site

Duntryleague 2a two lengths of concentric, curvilinear ditches (F72 & F73) appeared to enclose a single pit (F71). One ditch (F72) and the pit produced small quantities of unidentifiable, cremated bone Ditch: two sherds of coarse ware pottery from two different vessels.

Raheen, Co Limerick two sets of curvilinear ditches (F1/19 and F2 & F17) produced undecorated coarseware pottery and appeared to enclose a number of features (undated). Excavator: argues contemporaneity + similar purpose & range of functions as Duntryleague 2 & 2a

Cooney and Grogan (1994) In Munster distribution pattern for MBA burials: 1) on poor soils, along the flood plains of rivers 2) in groups, on either sides of rivers => evidence of territoriality where the cemeteries lay on the peripheries of land units stretching up from the valley floor No comparable sites are known from the opposite bank of the Foyle Gransha: on a ridge overlooking a river – conforms to pattern. General separation of domestic & funerary spaces: Gransha: Large amount of ground stripped, but no contemporary settlement found

Cooney and Grogan follow Hodder (1982): regard peripheral placement of cemeteries as parallel to the peripheral/diminished importance of the ancestors within society => focus of mortuary practice on the ceremonial treatment of the cremation process and disposal of the remains not on the cemeteries themselves. Alternative: placement of cemeteries on the edges of putative territorial units => demonstrates the vitality and power still commanded by the ancestral dead in protecting the community from external forces (physical/spiritual). Gransha: the large posts on the brow of a ridge - visible for a considerable distance? Designed to be seen by other communities? … claim to the land … or as a statement that the Gransha group were actively protected by their dead.

Let’s turn this around … grain in 12 out of 14 cists & bone in only 2 cists … was bone only a minor element? Was the ritual actually about the deposition of charred grain? Speculation: token portion of the grain harvest - symbolically put beyond human use by burning - placed in cist-like structures as a means of returning a share of nature’s bounty back to the earth.

In some cultures (e.g. Hinduism, Jainism & Sikhism) cremation is regarded as both a sanitary means of disposing of a corpse & as a way of allowing the ‘soul’ or spirit to escape and transcend to some form of afterlife. Does charring of the grain work in an analogous manner? … Transferring it to the spirit realm.

Parallels: Christian Harvest Festival: deity is thanked for a successful crop by the presentation of a token portion within the church. Based on Hebrew tradition (Torah) of presenting burnt offerings: Genesis, Exodus & Leviticus. Compilation of the Torah in written form conventionally dated to Babylonian Exile (c.600 BC), but incorporating much older elements.

Obvious parallel: The Wicker Man (1973) Sacrifice of humans, animals & vegetables to ensure good harvest after years of famine Based on accounts by Caesar and the geographer Strabo: mention the wicker man as one of many ways the Druids of Gaul performed sacrifices

Actually a useful way of thinking about this form of archaeology: charred remains/bone would survive … but what about the rest of the ritual?

… but what about the rest of the ritual?

Singing


Dancing


Processions

Trial/initiation


Dancing around a tall, decorated pole?

All these rituals are about forging group unity through shared experiences that connect them to their past while looking towards the future … but none of this is archaeologically recoverable!

Even in such a ‘grain sacrifice’ thesis is accepted: process involved would not have been a simple one. McClatchie: although large portion of the grain was identifiable, significant portions showed evidence of abrasion => Unlikely to have occurred if it was charred and directly deposited into cists. Suggests: relatively significant period of time from initial charring to eventual deposition - resulted in partial damage to the grain.

Many possibilities: allowing charred material to be exposed to the elements/collected and stored for a period. Possibility: grain ‘sacrificed’ in this manner was collected and stored until a death in the community & interred with/instead of body in cist. Strong ritual significance - interconnectedness of the community in both death+life, or reality+’afterlife’. Possibility: ceremony & ritual associated with funeral rites was a complex process – part of a multi-phased activity over a considerable period of time. Period between the initial cremation and the final burial of a token amount of cremated bone - skeletal remains and the pyre material were curated by the community. would explain: abraded grain - gathered up, packaged and transported. Ritual significance for community? Providing spiritual protection for a settlement/kin group. Possibly: substantial portion of human remains & pyre material were originally collected & deposited at significant (to the deceased/tribe) points in the landscape.

Brendon Wilkins: pyre at Newford, county Galway c. 700g of human bone recovered 'token cremation burials’ feature of the MBA & LBA suggests: some deposited in cremation pits on the site remainder for non-funerary contexts. Bone as 'social artefact’: intended for ceremonial exchange between different groups to cement relationships/bonds of inheritance etc. May help explain anomalies: small amounts of human bone frequently turn up in non-funerary contexts. Interpretive possibilities are endless!

Site Chronology & Phasing

Phase Ia c 1730-1536 (1650 cal BC) cal BC, Middle Bronze Age Erection of the large north-eastern post (C1935) and, possibly, the post in pit C1990


Phase Ib c 1613-1461 cal BC (1550 cal BC), Middle Bronze Age Setting out of segmented inner ditch, with palisaded fence, based on C19272 central stakehole. Position of site determined by desire for alignments (stellar, lunar, astronomical or landscape?) based on existing posts in pits C1935 and C1990. Old wood? Possibly slightly early


Phase Ic c 1442-1268 cal BC (c 1410 cal BC), Middle Bronze Age Token/cenotaphic burial in cists and pits within segmented circle. Laying out of north-eastern pit circle.


Phase Id, Middle Bronze Age Working lifetime of ritual site (Phase I), during which time (50-100 years?) timber structures and alignment posts decay. Phase IIa, End of Middle Bronze Age (?) Digging of C1915 ditch to enclose segmented inner circle, north-eastern pit circle and C1935 post-pit behind palisaded fence. Possible removal of palisaded fence from segmented circle and backfilling with redeposited flint and pottery.


Phase IIb, End of Middle Bronze Age (?) Working lifetime of ritual site (Phase II), during which time (50-100 years?) palisaded fence decays. Phase IIc, End of Middle Bronze Age (?) Removal of decaying posts from C1915 ditch and careful refilling of ditch with F1916 soil, F1909 shale stones and redeposition of pottery and flint artefacts, including deposition of natural, rounded stone at possible entrance way. Closing ceremony.


Phase III c 385-113 cal BC (c 270 cal BC), Iron Age Bronze Age ritual centre no longer visible on ground surface. Partially built over by industrial structure.

Publications: Chapple, R M 2004 ‘A cist is still a cist… the fundamental things apply: an enclosed late Bronze Age cist cemetery’ Archaeology Ireland 18.3, 32-35. Chapple, R M 2008a ‘The excavation of Early Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites at Oakgrove, Gransha, Co. Londonderry’ Ulster Journal of Archaeology 67, 3rd Series, 22-59. Chapple, R M 2008b ‘‘Oakgrove’ cemetery’ Archaeology Ireland 22.4, 39. Chapple, R M 2008c ‘The absolute dating of archaeological excavations in Ulster carried out by Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd., 1998-2007’ Ulster Journal of Archaeology 67, 3rd Series, 153-181. Chapple, R M 2010 The excavation of an Enclosed Middle Bronze Age Cemetery at Gransha, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland

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a unique middle bronze age cemetery at oakgrove, co. londonderry

Documents

anatomy of site

early bronze age

enclosing ditch

early christian site

enclosure ditch total

post holes

oldest phase of site

importance of gransha