1. A unique Middle Bronze Age cemetery
at Oakgrove, Co. Londonderry
Robert M Chapple

2. Dedication:
Robert F Chapple (1941-2012) & Billy Dunlop (1920-2011)
1st century AD Roman Villa at Hadleigh, Suffolk

3. Where are we talking about?
● PS: I don't care whether you call it Derry or Londonderry

4. Thornhill (Neolithic)
Enagh (Neolithic)
Shantallow (Bronze Age)
Rough Island (Bronze Age)
Ballynashallog (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

5. Mesolithic surface find
Early Neolithic sites (2)
EBA Burnt Mound
Site 19
Early Christian site:
Dergbruagh

6. ●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

7. 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)

8. ● Sites 13-19

9. 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

10. ● Surface find
large unfinished
perforated
macehead -
heavily damaged
blade-end

11. ● Surface find
● Natural stone or rubber stone
for saddle quern?
● Vaguely axe shaped –
significant?

12. ● Anatomy of site 19
● Enclosure ditch

13. ● Anatomy of site 19
● Enclosure ditch
● Segmented circle

14. ● Anatomy of site 19
● Enclosure ditch
● Segmented circle
● Cemetery of atypical cists

15. ● Anatomy of site 19
● Enclosure ditch
● Segmented circle
● Cemetery of atypical cists
● Intermediate features
(including a second circle)

16. ● Anatomy of site 19
● Enclosure ditch
● Segmented circle
● Cemetery of atypical cists
● Intermediate features
(including a second circle)
● Iron Age metal working
structure

17. Iron Age Structure
● 6 post holes & 2
stake holes

18. No walls? -
just
posts?
Open sided?
5.93m x 5.39m
Missing post hole?

19. Hearth & stake holes

20. ● Interpreted as
windbreak for
hearth

21. ● 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.

22. 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)

23. 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

24. 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)

25. 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

26. ● Thin shale slabs used as direct post packing

27. ● 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 …

28. One option: Native American Indian style totem poles
Alternatives:
painted decoration
Textile
Bone/antler/shell

29. Problem: nothing like this has ever been found in Ireland
Alternatives?
crude and sexually ambiguous figure
from Ralaghan, county Cavan

30. Problem: nothing like this has ever been found in Ireland
Alternatives?
a) Ralaghan, Co. Cavan
b) Dagenham (Essex) England
c) Ballachulish (Argyll) Scotland
d) Teigngrace (Devon) England
e) Montbouy (Loiret) France

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

32. 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.

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

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

35. BS: AJ
Find: broken, polishing/grinding
stone, with a superficial axe
blade end
Unusual section: base of ditch
ground down – smooth & even

36. Pottery in the ditch
● Identified 17 vessels (1-33 sherds)
1: cinerary urn with perforated rim
16: plain Bronze Age coarse ware

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

38. 17 vessels
● But all sherds not together

39. 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.

40. 17 vessels
● But all sherds not together
● for example:
vessel 19:02 deposited across 8 box sections
(BSs: I-E, AV, AT & AR)
Distributed over c. 19.61m

41. 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

42. 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?

43. 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'?

44. 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?

45. 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?

46. 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?

47. 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)

48. ● 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.

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

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

54. Slab sides 2-7

55. Only 3 survived

56. Ranging form a few grains to >70,000
12 cists had grain
V few wheat (3 cists) – mostly barley: naked & 6-row
varieties predominated

57. 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

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

59. All E-MBA Coarse wares
Within segmented inner ditch: 4
coarse ware vessels
1 cordoned urn

61. 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?

62. 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

63. 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

64. 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!

65. The 'Intermediate features'
disparate collection of
20 features

66. 10 produced evidence of
BA date: various flint
& BA Coarse Ware
pottery. None had
grain or bone

67. ● Just an area of shallow pits? ...

68. Warning! … wild speculation & conjecture!
A second
Segmented
circle?

69. 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?

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

71. 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

72. 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.

73. 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

74. 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.

75. 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

76. 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.

77. 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

78. 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)

79. Closest parallel for the Gransha Site 19: Duntryleague 2, Co Limerick
Atypical ring barrow (F1), defined by a ‘gapped trench’

80. Closest parallel for the Gransha Site 19: Duntryleague 2, Co Limerick
Atypical ring barrow (F1), defined by a ‘gapped trench’
Enclosed by a curvilinear ditch (F12)

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

82. 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.

83. 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

84. 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

85. 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.

86. 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.

87. 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.

88. 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.

89. 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

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

91. … but what about the rest of the ritual?
Singing

92. … but what about the rest of the ritual?
Dancing

93. … but what about the rest of the ritual?
Processions
Trial/initiation

94. … but what about the rest of the ritual?
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!

95. 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.

96. 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.

97. 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!

98. 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

99. Site Chronology & Phasing
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

100. Site Chronology & Phasing
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.

101. Site Chronology & Phasing
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.

102. Site Chronology & Phasing
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.

103. Site Chronology & Phasing
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.

104. 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

105. www.academia.edu
rmchapple.blogspot.com
rmchapple@hotmail.com
Thank you all for listening!!!!