Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland: The skeletons from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal 9781846823305, 9781846827747, 1846823307

Citation preview

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page i

L I F E A N D D E AT H I N M E D I E VA L G A E L I C I R E L A N D

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page ii

C.McK. – For Colin and Rosalind E.M. – For Colm

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page iii

LIFE A ND DE ATH IN ME DIE VA L GA E L IC IRE L A ND

The Skeletons from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal

Catriona J. McKenzie & Eileen M. Murphy

FOUR COURT S P RE S S

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 03/09/2018 12:19 Page iv

Set in 10.5pt on 12.5pt EhrhardtMTPro by Carrigboy Typesetting Services for FOUR COURTS PRESS LTD

7 Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland www.fourcourtspress.ie and in North America for FOUR COURTS PRESS

c/o IPG, 814 N. Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60622.

© The authors and Four Courts Press 2018

A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-84682-330-5 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-84682-774-7 (ebook)

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

Printed in England by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wilts.

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page v

Contents

L I S T O F A B B R E V I AT I O N S

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

ix

L I S T O F TA B L E S

xv

AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S FOREWORD

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Introduction History and archaeology Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna The condition of the human remains The people Developmental conditions Dental disease and diet Evidence for physiological stress Specific metabolic diseases Circulatory disorders Non-specific infections Tuberculosis Day-to-day injuries Joint disease Violence Medicine, treatment and society Conclusions

APPENDIX

1

xxi xxiii 1 16 38 71 90 115 137 158 193 211 223 257 283 319 355 370 388 402

BIBLIOGRAPHY

406

INDEX

431

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page vi

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page vii

Abbreviations

ACC AD aDNA AFM AM AMTL AP BABAO BAR BP BRP C c. CBA cf. cm CN Co. CO CV DDH df DJD DOHaD DXA ed./eds EEBO F FDI Fig./Figs. GH I1 I2 IAC IARC IFA illus. ITS L Lab LAXS

acromioclavicular joint Anno Domino ancient DNA Annals of the Four Masters American ante-mortem tooth loss antero-posterior British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology British Archaeological Reports before present Ballyhanna Research Project context circa Council for British Archaeology confer (compare) centimetre canine county cribra orbitalia cervical vertebra developmental dysplasia of the hip degrees of freedom degenerative joint disease developmental origins of health and disease dual energy x-ray absorptiometry editor/editors early English books online female Fédération Dentaire Internationale figure/figures glenohumeral joint first incisor second incisor Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd International Agency for Research on Cancer Institute of Field Archaeologists illustration Institute of Technology, Sligo left laboratory low angle x-ray scattering

vii

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 03/09/2018 12:19 Page viii

Abbreviations

viii LHPC LV M M1 M2 M3 m m2 mand. max. MC MHE ML mm MNI MS MT mth N/n/no. N/P N/R NRA OA p pers. comm. PFFD PH PM1 PM2 poss. QUB R ref. SD SK SI STC SV TII TMJ TV UBA USA WA WHO yr/yrs δ χ2

localized hypoplasia of the primary canines lumbar vertebra male first molar second molar third molar metre/metres metre squared mandibular maxillary metacarpal Multiple Hereditary Exostoses medio-lateral millimetre minimum number of individuals manuscript metatarsal month number not present not recordable National Roads Authority osteoarthritis probability personal communication proximal femoral focal deficiency porotic hyperostosis first premolar second premolar possible Queen’s University Belfast right reference standard deviation skeleton supero-inferior sternoclavicular joint sacral vertebra Transport Infrastructure Ireland temporomandibular joint thoracic vertebra University Belfast AMS United States of America Western Art World Health Organization year/years delta chi squared

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page ix

Figures

1.1

Map showing the location of Ballyhanna and the route of the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon Bypass. 1.2 Overall site plan showing the burials, church ruins, stone-lined circular pit, quadrangular reliquary shrine, and areas affected by the modern construction of a pavement over the graveyard. 1.3 Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1834–5, showing the location of the graveyard at Ballyhanna 1.4 Foundation of the medieval stone church discovered during excavation. 1.5 The quadrangular reliquary shrine (C50) following excavation. 1.6 Calibrated ranges of the radiocarbon-dated skeletons. 2.1 Map of medieval Tír Aodha (Tirhugh). 2.2 Sixteenth-century woodcut depicting a group of Gaelic Irish soldiers. 2.3 Bartlett map of 1602, showing Dungannon Castle and Tullaghoge inauguration site. 2.4 Detail from Browne and Baptiste’s 1591 map. 2.5 Detail from John Thomas’ pictorial map of the Battle of the Erne Fords which took place on 10 October 1593. 2.6 Bartlett map of 1602 showing Inishloughan Fort. 3.1 Grave slab depicting two cadavers wrapped in shrouds, with tied tops and bottoms, from St Peter’s Churchyard, Drogheda, Co. Louth. 3.2 Composite image showing examples of the variation of body position in juvenile burials at Ballyhanna. 3.3 Excavation photograph of SK 505, a middle-aged female, showing the location of a silver hammered penny at her left knee, and excavation photograph of SK 932, a middle-aged female, showing the location of a silver hammered penny among her right ribs. 3.4 Excavation photo of SK 1056, a young adult female, with a flint arrowhead. 3.5 SK 993A, a middle-aged male, with a piece of quartz clearly associated with the right hand bones. 3.6 SK 1005, a young adult female, interred in the normal Christian burial position, with the head in a westerly position, lying alongside SK 997, a middle-aged male, whose head lay to the east. 3.7 Density plot of the number of burials per grid square. 3.8 Plan of the various adult prone burials at Ballyhanna. 3.9 Two of the crouched burials at Ballyhanna. 3.10 SK 1209, a young adult male, who displayed a very unusual form of flexed burial. 3.11 SK 1239B, a young adult male, with two stones deliberately positioned at either side of his head in the classic ‘ear muff ’ position. 3.12 SK 978, a young adult female, with her baby twins, SK 986 and SK 979.

ix

2

3 5 6 8 11 17 20 25 27 30 32 39 41

43 47 48

52 53 56 59 60 63 67

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page x

x

Figures

3.13 In situ view of SK 227, a young adult female, with SK 339, a full term infant, within her pelvic cavity. 4.1 Plan from a section of the Ballyhanna burial ground showing the partial completeness of many of the skeletons. 4.2 Levels of skeletal completeness by age in the Ballyhanna juvenile population. 4.3 Levels of skeletal completeness by age in the Ballyhanna adult population. 4.4 Density plot of the number of burials per grid square. 4.5 Frequency of adult skeletal elements expressed as a percentage of the expected number of bones if all of the adult skeletons were complete. 4.6 Levels of skeletal fragmentation by age for the Ballyhanna juvenile population. 4.7 Levels of skeletal fragmentation by age for the Ballyhanna adult population. 4.8 Levels of abrasion and erosion by age in the Ballyhanna juvenile population. 4.9 Levels of abrasion and erosion by age in the Ballyhanna adult population. 4.10 Levels of abrasion and erosion compared with skeletal completeness in the Ballyhanna adult population. 5.1 Overall age-at-death profile for the Ballyhanna juveniles. 5.2 Age-at-death values in lunar weeks for the perinatal infants from Ballyhanna. 5.3 The ‘Bambino of Ross’ – a thirteenth-century grave slab with a carving of an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes from St Mary’s Cathedral, New Ross, Co. Wexford. 5.4 Age-at-death values for the Ballyhanna adults of determinable sex. 5.5 Comparison of the juvenile age-at-death profiles for Ballyhanna with the contemporary populations of Ardreigh, Co. Kildare and Wharram Percy, Yorshire. 5.6 Comparison of the dental age profiles for Ballyhanna and Wharram Percy at six month or one year intervals. 5.7 Comparison of the age-at-death values for the Ballyhanna adults of determinable sex with the contemporary populations of Ardreigh, Co. Kildare and Wharram Percy, Yorkshire. 5.8 Comparison of the age-at-death values for the Ballyhanna males with the contemporary populations of Ardreigh, Co. Kildare and Wharram Percy, Yorkshire. 5.9 Comparison of the age-at-death values for the Ballyhanna females with the contemporary populations of Ardreigh, Co. Kildare and Wharram Percy, Yorkshire. 6.1 Minor variation of a ‘butterfly vertebra’ in the eighth thoracic vertebra of SK 30. 6.2 Occipitalization of the first and second cervical vertebrae in SK 553. 6.3 Deformities of the upper right ribs in SK 1257, a neonate of 44 lunar weeks old.

68 72 73 74 77 81 82 83 85 86 88 93 94

96 101

102 104

106

107

107 118 120 120

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xi

Figures 6.4 Anterior view of unilateral hypoplasia of the right sacral ala in SK 30, a young adult male. 6.5 Unilateral hypoplasia of the right side of the mandible in SK 407, a middle-aged female. 6.6 Developmental dysplasia of the right hip in SK 317, a young adult male. 6.7 Anterior view of the sessile and pedunculated osteochondromas in the humeri of SK 331, a young adult male. 6.8 Sessile and pedunculated osteochondromas on the radii and ulnae of SK 331, a young adult male. 6.9 Ankylosis of the tibiae and fibulae at the proximal and distal ends as a result of major osteochondroma formation in SK 331, a young adult male. 7.1 Medium and considerable deposits of calculus on the buccal surfaces of the right maxillary teeth of SK 487, a middle-aged female. 7.2 A medium-sized carious lesion evident in the right mandibular first molar and periodontal disease in the right mandibular dentition of SK 60B, a middle-aged female. 7.3 A medium-sized carious lesion in the left mandibular first permanent molar of SK 920, a 12–15 year-old adolescent, that appears to have been secondary to dental enamel hypoplasia. 7.4 Graph comparing the prevalence rates of periodontal disease in adult males and females from Ballyhanna and Ardreigh. 7.5 Long standing ante-mortem tooth loss (AMTL) of the majority of premolars and all molars in the mandible of SK 234, a middle-aged male. 7.6 Summary graph of the main dental palaeopathological lesions among the adults from Ballyhanna by tooth/tooth socket (%) and compared with the corresponding data from Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. 8.1 Juvenile femoral, tibial and fibular diaphyseal lengths (mm) versus dental age. 8.2 Juvenile humeral, radial, ulnar and clavicular diaphyseal lengths (mm) versus dental age. 8.3 Diaphyseal lengths of the femora versus dental age for juveniles derived from Ballyhanna and four other archaeological populations. 8.4 Estimated stature (cm) versus dental age for juveniles. 8.5 Distribution of the Ballyhanna adult male and female statures. 8.6 Cribra orbitalia of Type 4 severity in the orbits of SK 8, an adult male. 8.7 Graph comparing the severity of cribra orbitalia by age category for adult males and females. 8.8 Comparison of the prevalence rates of juvenile cribra orbitalia at Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. 8.9 Linear enamel hypoplasia, in the form of rows of pits, in the anterior deciduous mandibular teeth of SK 1213, a 1–2 year-old child. 8.10 Localized Hypoplasia of the Primary Canines (LHPC) in the left deciduous canine of SK 485, a 2–4 year-old child. 9.1 Areas of fine grained porosity on the ectocranial surfaces of the parietals in SK 823, a 6–8 month-old infant. 9.2 The posterior surfaces of both femoral neck regions in SK 823, a 6–8 month-old infant.

xi 122 123 125 131 132 133 140

144

145 149 153

156 162 162 164 166 169 172 173 176 184 187 194 195

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xii

xii

Figures

9.3

Pronounced porosity on the ectocranial surface of a fragment of parietal in SK 243, a 1–2 year-old child. 9.4 Pronounced thickening of the lateral aspects of the hemifrontals due to expansion of the diploë in SK 243, a 1–2 year-old child. 9.5 A fragment of parietal with clear porosity with a coarse appearance on its ectocranial surface in SK 820, a 1–1.5 year-old child. 9.6 Pronounced porosity on the ectocranial surfaces of the parietals in SK 1213, a 1–2 year-old child. 9.7 Vertebral fractures that are likely to have been due to osteoporosis in TV11, TV12, LV1 in SK 592, an older female. 9.8 Vertebral fractures that are likely to have been due to osteoporosis in TV10, TV11 and TV12 in SK 677, a middle-aged female. 10.1 Osteochondritis dissecans in the left medial femoral condyle of SK 320, a young adult male. 10.2 Anterior view of the left pelvis and femur of SK 984, a middle-aged male, in which the bones of the left hip have an abnormal morphology due to avascular necrosis of the left femoral head. 10.3 Atrophy of the left ischium in SK 984, a middle-aged male, related to the avascular necrosis of the left femoral head. 10.4 Unfused proximal metaphyses of the femora in SK 355, a 12–14 year-old adolescent. The left femur displayed a possible case of slipped capital femoral epiphysis. 10.5 Hypertrophied unfused acetabulum of the left ilium in SK 355, a 12–14 year-old adolescent, with possible slipped capital femoral epiphysis of the left hip. 10.6 A probable case of slipped femoral capital epiphysis in the left femur of SK 142, a young adult male. 11.1 Periosteal new bone formation on the left distal tibia and fibula of SK 1009, a young adult female. 11.2 Periosteal new bone formation on the anterior surface of the distal end of the right humerus in SK 232, a 6–8 year-old child. 11.3 Osteomyelitis secondary to a compound fracture in the left femur of SK 939, an adult of indeterminate sex. 11.4 Osteomyelitis in two right ribs of SK 1224, a young adult male. 11.5 Possible myositis ossificans traumatica and secondary osteomyelitis in the left femur of SK 1242, a young adult female. 11.6 Osteomyelitis of the right tibia in SK 164, a 12–14 year-old possible male adolescent. 11.7 Possible osteomyelitis of the left clavicle in SK 751, a 3–4 month-old infant. 11.8 Septic arthritis in the left knee joint of SK 530, a middle-aged male. 11.9 Detail of the lesions due to avascular necrosis of the left femoral head and the associated lesions in the left acetabulum of SK 885, a middle-aged male. 11.10 Posterior view of avascular necrosis of the left femoral head and associated lesions of the acetabulum in SK 885 a middle-aged male.

196 197 199 199 203 203 212

215 215

218

218 220 225 237 239 240 240 242 242 244

244 246

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xiii

Figures 11.11 Geographic perforation surrounded by new bone formation at the glabella region of the frontal bone of SK 520, a middle-aged female. 11.12 Endocranial lesions on the occipital of SK 491, a 1–3 year-old child. 12.1 Lytic lesion due to tuberculosis in the central area of the superior body surface of TV6 in SK 182, a young adult female. 12.2 Lytic lesion probably caused by tuberculosis at the acromial end of the left clavicle in SK 182, a young adult female. 12.3 Abnormal bone loss due to tuberculosis on the inferior body surface of TV12 and the superior body surface of LV1 in SK 377, a young adult male. 12.4 Diffuse abnormal bone loss and active and sclerotic new bone formation, due to tuberculosis, on the left sides of the bodies of TV12 and LV1 in SK 377, a young adult male. 12.5 The early stages of ankylosis between LV1 and LV3 in SK 543, a middle-aged female, as a consequence of the collapse of LV2 likely due to tuberculosis. 12.6 Lytic lesions due to tuberculosis in the superior body surface of TV9, the inferior body surface of TV12 and the superior body surface of LV1 in SK 566, a young adult male. 12.7 Inferior aspect of TV9 with bone resorption due to tuberculosis in SK 882, a middle-aged female. 12.8 Bone destruction and pitting on the neural arches of TV2–TV8 due to tuberculosis in SK 1155, an 8.5–10.5 year-old child. 12.9 Periosteal new bone formation and lytic activity on fragments of right ribs in SK 1155, am 8.5–10.5 year-old child. 12.10 Destruction of the heads in three right ribs from SK 1155, an 8.5–10.5 year-old child. 12.11 Spina ventosa due to tuberculosis in the right radius of SK 755, a 7.5–9 year-old child. 12.12 Spina ventosa due to tuberculosis in the left tibia of SK 755, a 7.5–9 year-old child. 13.1 Medial view of a possible slipped anatomical neck fracture in the right humerus of SK 530, a middle-aged male. 13.2 Anterior view of a well healed, impaction fracture of the left first metacarpal in SK 1053, a young adult male. 13.3 Fractures at the left knee of SK 151B, a young adult female. 13.4 Blunt force trauma at the supero-medial aspect of the left parietal of SK 577, a young adult female. 13.5 Bilateral spondylolysis in the fourth lumbar vertebra (LV4) of SK 62, a middle-aged individual of indeterminate sex. 13.6 Fracture in the early stages of healing in the midshaft of a rib from SK 379, a middle-aged female. 13.7 Central fracture-dislocation of the head of the left femur through the obturator foramen in the left hip joint of SK 606, a middle-aged male. 13.8 Central fracture-dislocation of the head of the left femur through the obturator foramen in the left hip joint of SK 606, a middle-aged male.

xiii 247 249 261 261

263

264

265

266 268 274 274 275 277 277 287 291 294 298 303 305 308 308

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xiv

xiv

Figures

13.9 Changes consistent with a traumatic dislocation at the left proximal interphalangeal joint of the second digit in SK 1116, a young adult male. 310 13.10 Comparison of the crude prevalence rates of fractures in the different areas of the body for Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. 313 13.11 Grave slab of Magnus MacOrristin from Clonca, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. 317 14.1 Extensive eburnation, porosity and osteophyte formation indicative of osteoarthritis in the left shoulder joint of SK 1048, a middle-aged female. 326 14.2 Extensive porosity and osteophyte formation indicative of osteoarthritis in the left elbow joint of SK 112, a middle-aged female. 327 14.3 Osteoarthritis in the right wrist joint of SK 759, a young adult male. 328 14.4 Osteoarthritis in the right hip joint of SK 398, a middle-aged male. 332 14.5 SK 282, an older female, with osteoarthritis of the left knee joint. 335 14.6 Osteoarthritis in the left posterior talocalcaneal articulation of SK 282, an older female. 336 14.7 Vertebral osteophytosis of the fourth lumbar vertebra in SK 324, a young adult male. 340 14.8 Intervertebral osteochondritis with Schmorl’s nodes in SK 909, a young adult female. 343 14.9 Schmorl’s nodes in SK 213, a middle-aged male. 345 14.10 Schmorl’s nodes and osteonecrosis, probably indicative of Scheuermann’s disease, in SK 341, a probable male adolescent. 348 15.1 A peri-mortem blade injury in the left parietal and occipital bone of SK 325, an adult male. 357 15.2 Two healed blade injuries in the cranium of SK 670, a young adult female. 360 15.3 A peri-mortem blade injury in the cranium of SK 864, a young adult male. 361 15.4 Three peri-mortem knife cuts in the probable fourth cervical vertebra of SK 81, a young adult male. 363 15.5 Two peri-mortem blade injuries in the left second and third metacarpal of SK 852, a young adult male. 364 15.6 A peri-mortem blade injury in the left humerus of SK 641, a young adult of indeterminate sex. 364 15.7 A peri-mortem blade injury in the left humerus of SK 1C, a 14–18 year-old possible male adolescent. 366 15.8 A peri-mortem blade injury in the left scapula of SK 1C, a 14–18 year-old possible male adolescent. 366 16.1 Osteolytic lesions that had entirely perforated the vault in SK 671, a young adult female. 371 16.2 Lesions 1 and 2 as well as Lesions 6 and 7 in SK 671, a young adult female. 371 16.3 Lesion 3 in the left parietal of SK 671, a young adult female. 373 16.4 View of the superior aspect of the cranium in SK 1242, a young adult female, where a possible healed trepanation was visible at the bregma. 380 16.5 Tobershannon holy well at Sminver, Co. Donegal, located less than 0.5 km away from the graveyard and church at Ballyhanna. 386

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xv

Tables

1.1 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 5.1 5.2 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 7.1 7.2

7.3

Details of adult skeletons that pre-date AD 1200. Details of individuals buried with quartz. Summary of the levels of completeness of the Ballyhanna skeletons. Levels of skeletal completeness by age in the Ballyhanna juvenile population. Levels of skeletal completeness by age category in the Ballyhanna adult population. Details of skeletons that were identified as comprising two or more individuals during the osteoarchaeological analysis. Frequencies of the patellae and the bones of the hands and feet for juveniles. Bone counts of skeletal elements >75% complete for juveniles. Bone counts of skeletal elements >75% complete for adults. Summary of the levels of skeletal fragmentation of the Ballyhanna skeletons. Levels of skeletal fragmentation in the Ballyhanna juvenile population. Levels of skeletal fragmentation by age category among the Ballyhanna adult population. Summary of the levels of macroscopic bone preservation of the Ballyhanna skeletons. Macroscopic bone preservation by skeletal completeness for the adult skeletons. Location of adult skeletons which were less than 50% complete and which had poor preservation (Grade 4 and Grade 5). Distribution of age-at-death and sex estimation data for all adults from Ballyhanna. Dental age determinations for juveniles from Ballyhanna and Wharram Percy. Prevalence of developmental defects in the axial skeletons of the adults by age and sex. Distribution of developmental defects in the axial skeletons of the juveniles by age. Details of the largest osteochondromas apparent in SK 197. Details of the largest osteochondromas apparent in SK 331. Inventory of teeth for the Ballyhanna adults. Numbers of individuals with one or more deciduous teeth and the numbers of the different types of deciduous teeth present among the Ballyhanna juveniles. Numbers of individuals with one or more permanent teeth and the numbers of the different types of permanent teeth present among the Ballyhanna juveniles.

xv

1o 49 72 73 74 76 78 79 8o 82 82 83 85 86 87 1oo 105 117 117 129 13o 138

138

138

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xvi

xvi 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 8.11

Tables Prevalence of calculus on the deciduous teeth of the Ballyhanna juveniles. Prevalence of calculus on the permanent teeth of the Ballyhanna juveniles. Prevalence of calculus on the adult permanent dentitions. Prevalence of calculus in the adult individuals. Severity of calculus on the adult permanent dentitions. Prevalence of dental caries among the Ballyhanna juveniles by individual and number of teeth. Prevalence of dental caries in the adult permanent dentitions. Prevalence of dental caries in the adult individuals. Prevalence of dental caries in comparative medieval populations, including Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. Prevalence of periodontal disease in the adult individuals. Prevalence of tooth sockets affected by abscesses in the adult permanent dentitions. Prevalence of abscesses in the adult individuals. Details of adult individuals with an oro-antral fistula. Prevalence of dental abscesses in comparative medieval populations, including Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. Prevalence of tooth positions affected by AMTL in the adult permanent dentitions. Prevalence of AMTL in the adult individuals. Prevalence of AMTL in comparative medieval populations, including Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. Diaphyseal lengths of juvenile long bones (mm). Comparative data for the archaeological populations included in the analysis of juvenile femoral diaphyseal lengths presented in Figure 8.3. Estimated juvenile stature (cm) versus dental age from Wharram Percy; England 1933; and Ireland. Adult statures (cm) in comparative medieval populations. Prevalence of cribra orbitalia in adult individuals with orbital roofs present for analysis. Prevalence of cribra orbitalia in adult orbital roofs. Prevalence of cribra orbitalia by adult individual at Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. Prevalence of juvenile cribra orbitalia by individual at Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. Prevalence of the severity of cribra orbitalia in the affected juveniles by age. Prevalence of porotic hyperostosis in adult individuals. Severity of lesions indicative of porotic hyperostosis in the adult individuals.

141 141 141 142 142 145 146 146 147 149 151 151 152 152 154 154 154 161 164 166 17o 172 172 173 176 177 179 179

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xvii

Tables

xvii

8.12 Prevalence of porotic hyperostosis in adult individuals at Ballyhanna compared to Ardreigh. 179 8.13 Details of juveniles with porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia. 180 8.14 Prevalence of adults with both cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. 181 8.15 Prevalence of anterior teeth with linear hypoplasia in the adult permanent dentitions. 183 8.16 Prevalence of linear hypoplasia in adults with an anterior dentition present for analysis. 183 8.17 Prevalence of adults affected by linear hypoplasia by individual at Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. 183 8.18 Details of the prevalences of linear hypoplasia in the deciduous and permanent anterior dentitions of the juveniles. 185 8.19 Prevalences of deciduous and permanent linear hypoplasia in the Ballyhanna juveniles compared to a series of medieval English populations. 185 8.20 Details of the prevalences of linear hypoplastic defects apparent in the juvenile anterior dentitions. 185 8.21 Prevalences of localized hypoplasia of the primary canines (LHPC) in the Ballyhanna juveniles. 187 8.22 Prevalences of LHPC in a variety of populations. 188 8.23 A summary of the five main indicators of health status for Ballyhanna, Ardreigh and Wharram Percy. 191 9.1 Prevalence of adults with probable osteoporosis in the Ballyhanna population. 205 9.2 Description of fractures identified in the adults with probable osteoporosis. 205 9.3 Prevalence of osteoporosis in adults in the Ballyhanna and Ardreigh populations. 205 10.1 Prevalence of adults with osteochondritis dissecans. 212 10.2 Prevalence of osteochondritis dissecans by skeletal element and sex. 212 11.1 Prevalence of adults with periosteal new bone formation. 226 11.2 Prevalence of periosteal new bone formation in specific adult skeletal elements. 226 11.3 Prevalence of periosteal new bone formation in specific juvenile skeletal elements. 226 11.4 Details of adults with periosteal new bone formation affecting only the tibiae and/or fibulae. 228 11.5 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation affecting the tibiae and/or fibulae, and the femora and/or bones of the feet. 229 11.6 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation affecting the tibiae and/or fibulae, and bones from other areas of the body. 23o 11.7 Prevalence of periosteal new bone formation on the visceral surface of the ribs in adult individuals. 231 11.8 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation affecting the visceral surface of the ribs. 231

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xviii

xviii

Tables

11.9 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation on their ribs, and lesions also evident on additional skeletal elements from other areas of the body. 232 11.10 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation evident on a single skeletal element. 233 11.11 Details of adult individuals with periosteal new bone formation on two or more skeletal elements confined to a particular area of the body, suggestive of the presence of a localized infection. 234 11.12 Details of adult individuals with diffuse non-specific periosteal new bone formation affecting two or more skeletal elements in different areas of the body. 234 11.13 Details of juveniles with non-specific periosteal new bone formation affecting the bones of the legs. 235 11.14 Details of juveniles with periosteal new bone formation on skeletal elements confined to a particular area of the body, suggestive of the presence of a localized infection. 235 11.15 Details of juveniles with periosteal new bone formation on their ribs as evidence of both localized and systemic infections. 236 11.16 Details of juveniles with endocranial lesions. 248 11.17 Summary of the Ballyhanna juveniles with endocranial lesions by age. 249 12.1 Prevalence of tuberculosis in adult individuals. 259 13.1 Prevalence of traumatic injuries in all adult individuals, including appendicular fractures, axial fractures and dislocations (excluding spondylolysis and os acromiale). 285 13.2 Prevalence of long bone fractures in adult individuals (clavicles, humeri, radii, ulnae, femora, tibiae and fibulae). 286 13.3 Prevalence of appendicular fractures by skeletal element in the adult individuals. 286 13.4 Distribution of fractures by skeletal element and sex. 287 13.5 Details of adult individuals with night-stick fractures of the ulnae. 289 13.6 Details of adult individuals with Colles’ fractures of the radii. 289 13.7 Details of adult individuals with fractures of both the ulnae and radii. 29o 13.8 Details of adult individuals with fractures of the metacarpals. 291 13.9 Details of adult individuals with fractures of the hand phalanges. 292 13.10 Details of adult individuals with fractures in the ankle and foot bones. 296 13.11 Prevalence of fractures in the axial skeletons in adult individuals. 297 13.12 Prevalence of cranial blunt force trauma fractures out of the total number of adult skeletons with cranial skeletal elements present for analysis. 298 13.13 Details of adult individuals with blunt force trauma in the cranial bones. 299 13.14 Prevalence of vertebral fractures out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more pre-sacral vertebra present for analysis. 30o 13.15 Details of adult individuals with vertebral fractures. 301 13.16 Details of adult individuals with additional complications or injuries. 302

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xix

Tables 13.17 Prevalence of spondylolysis out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more lumbar vertebrae present for analysis. 13.18 Details of adult individuals with spondylolysis. 13.19 Spondylolysis by vertebra. 13.20 Details of adult individuals with rib fractures. 13.21 Prevalence of rib fractures out of the total number of adults with one or more ribs present for analysis. 13.22 Prevalence of appendicular fractures according to skeletal element among the adult at Ballyhanna and Ardreigh. 14.1 Prevalence of osteoarthritis in appendicular joints in adult individuals. 14.2 Prevalence of osteoarthritis in the appendicular joints. 14.3 Prevalence of osteoarthritis in the appendicular joints by sex and age. 14.4 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the temporomandibular joint. 14.5 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the sternoclavicular joint. 14.6 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the acromioclavicular joint. 14.7 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the glenohumeral joint. 14.8 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the elbow joints. 14.9 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the wrist joints. 14.10 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the hand joints. 14.11 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the hip joints. 14.12 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the knee joints. 14.13 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the ankle joints. 14.14 Details of adult individuals with osteoarthritis in the foot joints. 14.15 Numbers of individuals with osteoarthritis at different sites in the skeleton (including appendicular and spinal OA). 14.16 Prevalence of DJD or OA at one or more apophyseal joints in adult individuals, out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more pre-sacral vertebra present for analysis. 14.17 Prevalence of DJD or OA in the apophyseal joints in adult individuals by vertebra. 14.18 Prevalence of vertebral osteophytosis in adults individuals, out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more pre-sacral vertebral body present for analysis. 14.19 Prevalence of vertebral osteophytosis in adult individuals by vertebrae. 14.20 Prevalence of intervertebral osteochondrosis in adults individuals, out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more pre-sacral vertebral body present for analysis. 14.21 Prevalence of intervertebral osteochondrosis in adults by vertebra. 14.22 Prevalence of Schmorl’s nodes in adult individuals, out of the total number of adult skeletons with one or more pre-sacral vertebral body present for analysis.

xix 303 304 305 306 307 313 321 322 322 323 324 325 326 327 329 331 333 334 336 337 337

338 339

341 341

343 344

346

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xx

xx

Tables

14.23 Prevalence of Schmorl’s nodes in adult individuals by vertebra. 14.24 Prevalence of osteoarthritis according to joint among the adults with a sex estimate at Ballyhanna, Chichester and Medieval England. 14.25 Prevalence of vertebral osteophytosis in adults with a vertebral body and a sex estimate at Ballyhanna and Chichester. 14.26 Prevalence of intervertebral osteochondrosis in adults with a vertebral body and a sex estimate at Ballyhanna, Chichester and Wharram Percy. 14.27 Prevalence of Schmorl’s Nodes in adults with a vertebral body and a sex estimate at Ballyhanna, Ardreigh, Chichester and Wharram Percy. 15.1 Prevalence of definite weapon trauma among the adults. 15.2 Prevalence of individuals with sharp force trauma in their crania. 15.3 Details of individuals with cranial weapon trauma. 15.4 Details of individuals with peri-mortem post-cranial weapon trauma.

346 35o 351 351 351 356 357 358 362

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xxi

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII, formerly known as the National Roads Authority, NRA) and Donegal County Council for their funding of the Ballyhanna Research Project (BRP) and support throughout. We would like to acknowledge Dáire O’Rourke (†), NRA Head of Archaeology, who sadly passed away during the course of the research, for her support and guidance in the early stages of the BRP, and Rónán Swan, current Head of Archaeology in TII for his encouragement in recent years. Michael MacDonagh, then Project Archaeologist with Donegal County Council National Roads Design Office and now Chief Archaeologist at the National Monuments Service, tirelessly led and coordinated the BRP and we are incredibly grateful for his generosity in spirit and unfailing belief in the project. We thoroughly enjoyed working on the BRP and this was in no part due to the camaraderie generated through the enthusiasm of the other members of the core leadership team – Dr Colm Donnelly, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, and Dr Jerry Bird and Dr Ted McGowan, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo. Sincere thanks are also due to the staff of Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd for all their excavation contributions on the N15 bypass especially at Ballyhanna, which was excavated under the direction of Brian Ó Donnchadha. We are also grateful to Michael Nolan, Tom Carr and Kieran Kelly of TII and to Aidan O’Doherty, Damian McDermott, Fergus Towey and Richie Bromley of Donegal County Council National Roads Design Office for their help and support throughout the process. At the National Museum of Ireland we would like to thank Eamonn Kelly, Nessa O’Connor, Maeve Sikora, Fiona Reilly and Pádraig Clancy for their support and approvals during the term of the Project. We are also grateful to the archaeological specialists who provided detailed information on the finds and samples recovered during the excavations – Catherine Johnstone, Clare McCutcheon, Dr Ian Riddler, Rose M. Cleary, Dr Eiméar Nelis and Ellen O’Carroll. We further express our gratitude to the staff at Donegal County Museum, Letterkenny, the McCaffrey family of Rockville House and the Coyles of East Port Road, and to the Donegal and Ballyshannon Historical Societies, with special thanks to Anthony Begley for all his assistance and local wisdom. We would also like to thank Carmelita Troy of Rubicon Heritage Ltd and Kildare County Council for providing comparative information on the medieval skeletal population from Ardreigh, Co. Kildare. We are grateful to Róisín McCarthy then of Institute of Technology Sligo, for her help with the

xxi

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xxii

xxii

Acknowledgments

analysis of the adult skeletons and with the compilation of the skeletal catalogues, and to Clare Mc Granaghan, then of the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast, for her assistance with the initial recording of the inventories for the juvenile skeletons. Thanks are due to Dr Annaleigh Margey of Trinity College Dublin who provided information on historical maps and to Dr Cormac McSparron of the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast, for his guidance on radiocarbon calibration. Thanks are also due to Dr John Dormans and Dr Lauren Tomlinson, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Ms Sarah Ziegler, President of the MHE Research Foundation and Dr John Martin for information about the cases of multiple osteochondromas. Dr Simon Mays of Historic England kindly provided second opinions on a number of the juvenile palaeopathological lesions. Similarly Professor Iain Watt of the Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, provided second opinions on a number of the adult palaeopathological lesions. Photographs of the pathological lesions were taken by Jonathan Hession, with additional photographs taken by Mícheál Cearbhalláin. The photograph of the Bambino of Ross was taken by Ronan Murphy; the grave slab of Magnus MacOrristin from Clonca, Inishowen, Co. Donegal, was taken by Neil Jackman and the image of the Tobershannon well was taken by Richard Bromley. All illustrations were prepared by Libby Mulqueeny, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, and we are very grateful to her for her patience with this process over the years. Further help with images came from Michael Stanley of TII for the image of the grave slab of Magnus MacOrristin from Clonca, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. Dr Colm Donnelly, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, provided advice on Gaelic Medieval Ireland, while Dr Mark Gardiner, School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln, and Dr Cormac McSparron, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast, gave us information about medieval houses. The index was prepared by Eileen O’Neill. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to Michael Potterton, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Martin Fanning and Sam Tranum of Four Courts Press for their patience and advice through the publication process and to Josette Prichard who typeset Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland: The Skeletons from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal.

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xxiii

Foreword

On its discovery in 2004, it was clear that Ballyhanna represented an important opportunity to understand those buried there over a thousand years and their lives. The Ballyhanna Research Project was created to allow those stories to be told. They are stories of immense public interest. The discoveries at Ballyhanna gained international recognition but, at its core, all archaeology is local and awareness of local interest in the Ballyhanna discovery lay at the heart of decision-making around its excavation and the establishment of the Ballyhanna Research Project. The excavation was carried out in public view, the public treated to a window on the excitement of archaeological discovery on a daily basis. Site tours and ecumenical services, public lectures and outreach, the redesign of the road junction and the creation of a memorial heritage park around the remains of the old church were key decisions throughout the project and credit is due to all of those who facilitated those decisions. The work of the Ballyhanna Research Project and this volume, in particular, show the immense value of collaborative archaeological research frameworks with third level institutions. This publication marks a significant milestone in the life of the Ballyhanna Research Project and credit is due to the authors, Catriona J. McKenzie and Eileen M. Murphy, as well as all those who have played their roles in the forensic study of Ballyhanna over many years. Most importantly this study is a tribute to those who were buried at Ballyhanna, allowing the story of their lives to be told, of hardships, of their community and their deaths and burial. It is the result of painstaking research carried out across the Irish border and with input from the US and Britain. Such collaboration is essential, helping build capacity across the archaeological sector and ensuring that knowledge from discoveries is put into the public domain. The commitment over many years of the Irish government through Transport Infrastructure Ireland to enable the transformation of archaeological discovery into public knowledge has allowed many fascinating stories of discovery to be told. This commitment has built capacity across the archaeological sector, fostering within the profession a greater understanding, competence, willingness and diligence to ensure the public have access to the exciting stories of Ireland’s ancient past. The extensive and collaborative scientific and academic research on Ballyhanna, resulting in this wonderful publication, provides an examplar template for archaeological project management of archaeological discoveries. Michael MacDonagh Chief Archaeologist, National Monuments Service Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht xxiii

00 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:14 Page xxiv

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 1

1. Introduction ‘Dá chrand cháela táeb re táeb, sesin féin ar cleathcor cháel, días ’na díaid, dias roime soir, sesin can a n-agallaim’. ‘Two narrow planks side by side, he himself on a narrow hurdle; two men behind him, two in front – not a word from him to them’. ‘The Hosting of Death’, verse 13 – poem attributed to Cummín cecinit (Bergin 1970, 195, 304) Located on the fringes of Western Europe, society in Gaelic medieval Ireland differed significantly from the wider Western European medieval norm. Gaelic society had similarities in Scotland and Wales, but beyond these Celtic lands, suitable comparisons were found only on the edges of Christendom in places as far flung as Ethiopia (Nicholls 2003, 3–4). Until relatively recently our understanding of Gaelic society was largely based upon accounts in annals which provide intimate details of battles, cattle raids, savage mutilations, murders, and deaths among the kings, lords and ruling elites. In the surviving bardic poetry we hear of the history, myths and legends which surround the powerful rulers of the time. Through documentary records we find genealogical accounts of the lords, their ascension to power, and the tales and stories of their reigns. Looking in the landscape we can see the remnants of inauguration sites and tower houses, which were residences of the elite in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. What is conspicuously absent from all of these records is information about the lower classes, the tenant farmers, labourers, clergy, merchants, artisans and the very poor – who would have comprised the majority of the population. Little is known of everyday life in Gaelic Ireland – and hardly any artefactual evidence survives. Given the paucity of evidence this account of the Ballyhanna human skeletal collection, the largest Gaelic medieval population to have been excavated from Ireland to date, is of particular importance. The discovery of the burial ground at Ballyhanna provided us with an unparalleled opportunity to undertake a study of the physical remains of men, women and children who lived in Donegal during the medieval period. Accordingly, the analysis of these individuals not only provides important insights into daily life and the nature of challenges faced by the community, but also allows us to explore commonalities and contrasts with skeletal populations further afield. The results of this research will provide important comparator information for studies throughout Europe. This book aims to tell the story of the lives and death of the hitherto invisible lower classes of Gaelic Ireland. 1

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 2

2

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

1.1 Map showing the location of Ballyhanna and the route of the N15 Bundoran– Ballyshannon Bypass (Map by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, based on the Ordnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series map. Ordnance Survey Ireland permit No. EN0045206. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland).

Ballyhanna is a small townland located on the southern bank of the River Erne, on the outskirts of Ballyshannon in south Co. Donegal (Fig. 1.1). In July 2003, human skeletal remains were uncovered in a small field at Ballyhanna during archaeological testing, in advance of the construction of the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon bypass. Over the winter months of 2003–4, the area was excavated by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, under the direction of Brian Ó Donnchadha (Licence no. 03E1384), funded by the National Roads Authority (NRA) through Donegal County Council (MacDonagh 2015, 2). During the course of the excavation the foundation of a previously unrecorded medieval stone church and a small graveyard, which contained the remains of some 1296 human skeletons, were uncovered (Fig. 1.2). To facilitate the scientific study of this highly important skeletal population the cross-border Ballyhanna Research Project (BRP) was established in 2005 by the then NRA, now Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The project was a cross-border research collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and the Institute of Technology, Sligo (ITS), and was funded through Donegal County Council. The main aim of the Ballyhanna Research Project was to examine the human skeletal assemblage using techniques developed in osteoarchaeology, bio-molecular science and analytical chemistry to learn

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 3

Introduction

3

1.2 Overall site plan showing the burials, church ruins, stone-lined circular pit (C102/103), quadrangular reliquary shrine (C50), and areas affected by the modern construction of a pavement over the graveyard (Prepared by Sapphire Mussen and based on the original site plan by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd).

about the people buried in the medieval cemetery. It was recognized by the founding project members that this multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the skeletal population had the potential to yield exciting new insights into medieval Ballyhanna and, by extension, to add significantly to our knowledge of medieval Gaelic Ulster (MacDonagh 2015, 12). One of the remits of the Ballyhanna Research Project was to produce a volume of papers summarizing the main findings in a manner suitable for a popular audience. This volume was entitled The Science of a Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard: The Ballyhanna Research Project and was published in December 2015 (McKenzie et al. 2015). The current book is a further component of the project but it has a focus on

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 4

4

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

the osteoarchaeological analysis of the human remains recovered during the excavations at Ballyhanna. This chapter introduces the study and presents a summary of the main findings of the excavations before providing an overview of the recovery, analysis and dating of the burials. It also includes a brief consideration of current levels of understanding of Gaelic Ireland and previous studies in Irish human osteoarchaeology before presenting the layout of the volume.

T H E E XC AVAT I O N S AT B A L LY H A N N A

A detailed summary of the excavation at Ballyhanna has previously been published by Macdonald and Carver (2015) and, as such, this section will only provide a brief summary of the key findings. Prior to the discovery of human remains in the summer of 2003, no substantive evidence had existed to suggest the presence of a church and graveyard at this location. The first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map sheet of 1834–5 (Fig. 1.3) does not mark a church or graveyard in this area and they were not marked on any earlier maps (see Donnelly 2015, 25–35, 44). The burial ground at Ballyhanna overlooked the River Erne and during the medieval period it would have been situated close to the ford of Áth Seanaigh, which was the main crossing point over the River Erne (MacDonagh 2015, 3). It was located at the base of a steep hill in the north-east corner of a field to the south of Rockville House. The field had once been a small park associated with Rockville House, but in recent years it had been used for growing silage (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 48). Overall the excavation covered an area that measured approximately 18.5 m (north–south) by 30 m (east–west) and was bordered to the north by East Port Road and to the east by Station Road. The graveyard was not excavated in its entirety, however, and service trenches dug into these two roads in late 2004 uncovered a number of badly fragmented additional skeletons that were added to the main skeletal collection (numbered from SK 5000 onwards). The location of the service trenches indicated that burials extended for at least a further 8 m to the north and 6 m to the east (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 49). The only surviving border of the graveyard was the southern boundary which was at the base of a steep hill. Macdonald and Carver (2015, 49) have suggested that the original southern border may have been curvilinear in shape, marked by either an earthen bank or hedge which was perhaps removed when the site was abandoned. The western area of the site was disturbed; a stone cottage was marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map sheet of 1834–5 but this was demolished in the 1970s. Ó Donnchadha (2006, 49), the director of the excavation, suggested that the construction of the stone cottage may have truncated the graveyard in this location. Macdonald and

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 5

Introduction

5

1.3 Ordnance Survey six inch map of 1834–5. This map shows the course of the River Erne before the construction works undertaken as part of the River Erne Hydro-Electric Scheme and the location of Rockville House. The graveyard at Ballyhanna, within the grounds of Rockville House, is marked with an arrow (Ordnance Survey Ireland permit No. EN0045206. © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland).

Carver (2015, 51) questioned this interpretation and suggested that a scarped edge of such a constructional terrace would probably have been identified during the excavation if it had existed. They made the alternative proposition that a deposit of sand, caused by flooding, may have masked the western part of the graveyard (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 51). It is therefore not possible to determine how far west the original graveyard may have extended. In addition to the burials, two main archaeological features were identified within the graveyard – the foundations of a medieval church and a ‘quadrangular’ reliquary shrine (C50), a summary of which will be presented below. A circular stone-lined pit (C102/103) was also excavated but this predated burial activity at the graveyard (see Macdonald and Carver 2015, 54). Artefacts recovered during the excavations will be discussed in relation to their association with the burials in Chapter 3.

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 6

6

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

1.4 Foundation of the medieval stone church discovered during excavation (Transport Infrastructure Ireland).

The church The foundations and part of the lowest masonry course of a rectangular building were uncovered in the northwestern corner of the site (see Fig. 1.2 and Fig. 1.4). Most of the northern wall of the structure had been demolished, probably during the construction of the boundary wall on East Port Road, but the lowest masonry course of the three remaining foundation walls was largely intact. The longitudinal axis of this simple, single-celled rectangular building was aligned at a near east-west angle. Externally, the building measured 14.2 m east-west by 8.0 m north-south, and its gable walls had a thickness of at least 1.0 m (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 51). An incomplete adult skeleton of indeterminate sex (SK 787) had been buried directly beneath the stone foundations, and a radiocarbon date indicated that this individual had been laid to rest between 1263 and 1381 (UBA–14972) (see Appendix 1). Further dating evidence was obtained from a cross-inscribed strap handle of a possible ‘everted-rim/crannog type’ cooking pot, of probable thirteenth-century date (McCutcheon 2015), recovered from a black silt deposit during excavation within the building. It would therefore appear that the building is medieval in date, built sometime after the middle of the thirteenth century (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 52). The medieval date, in addition to the dimensions and

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 7

Introduction

7

orientation, as well as the association with a burial ground, are all compatible with the interpretation that the building represents the remains of a small medieval stone church. Following the discovery of the foundations of the church it was decided that it should be preserved in situ and the road was re-designed to accommodate this (MacDonagh 2015, 2). As the building was to be preserved it was only partially excavated by means of a narrow sondage placed in the eastern end of its interior. This revealed a layer of probable stone masonry fragments in a sandy clay soil matrix (depth 64 cm) that overlay a mortar-rich deposit of dark brown sandy clay (depth 30 cm). These deposits lay above a thin, cemented layer of black silt (depth 7 cm) that probably formed a bed for a robbed-out floor and which, in turn, overlay a hard-core of small- and medium-sized stones (depth 50 cm) (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 52). Excavation was not continued beneath the hardcore deposit. The lack of building rubble recovered from the interior of the church is suggestive that it may have been deliberately removed from the site and re-used elsewhere (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 52). A programme of radiocarbon dating has indicated that the earliest burials date from the late seventh to early eighth century onwards (see below) and it therefore seems very probable that the stone church was not the earliest church constructed at Ballyhanna. Indeed, it is highly feasible that a church built from organic materials, such as turf, wattle and timber, may have pre-dated the stone church at Ballyhanna, although no archaeological evidence for such a structure was recovered (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 53). The ‘quadrangular’ reliquary shrine A partially-disturbed, box-like structure (C50) was located immediately adjacent to the southern wall of the church (see Fig. 1.2 and Fig. 1.5). The feature comprised a series of broken slabs, arranged to form the base, and three near-vertical sides of a shallow box which measured 75 cm by 55 cm and had a depth of approximately 25 cm. It was partly set into the natural subsoil, was orientated east–west, and its eastern side had apparently been left open. A flat slab overlay the structure and was considered by the excavator to represent a displaced cap stone. The feature was filled with a loose deposit of sandy clay and 76 pieces of white quartz stone and unworked rock crystal, as well as six beach-rolled pebbles. The structure was interpreted as the remains of a ‘quadrangular’ reliquary shrine (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 54–5). Five comparable features, all occurring on early ecclesiastical sites in the south-west of Ireland, have previously been excavated. The available dating evidence suggests that ‘quadrangular’ shrines date to the early medieval period. The Ballyhanna shrine, and most of the other ‘quadrangular’ shrines, can be interpreted as reliquary shrines that would have held the bones, and possibly associated relics, of saints. The example from Ballyhanna is the most northerly of the known Irish examples but its location is consistent with their

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 8

8

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland 1.5 The quadrangular reliquary shrine (C50) following excavation (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

distribution along the west coast of Ireland. The recognition of a reliquary shrine in the graveyard at Ballyhanna would tend to suggest that at some point during the early medieval period a corporeal relic cult of at least one saint had become established at the site. No bones that might represent the remains of a saint were recovered from within the feature but, given the disturbed state of the shrine, this absence should not be considered to be significant. The shrine did not overly any burials and it is therefore probable it had been constructed relatively early in the sequence of activity at the site. Given the density of burial activity at Ballyhanna, it is notable that it was not disturbed by any later burials (see Fig. 1.2), a situation that would perhaps suggest that it had continued to be respected, and presumably venerated, throughout the later medieval period (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 55–6). The deliberate deposition of quartz within the burials of some of the individuals at Ballyhanna is supportive of this suggestion (see Chapter 3). R E C OV E RY A N D A N A LYS I S O F T H E H U M A N R E M A I N S

Graves were found predominantly to the south and east of the foundations of the medieval church. All of the skeletons was carefully cleaned and recorded in situ prior to excavation following the guidelines outlined by Buckley et al.

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 9

Introduction

9

(1999). Each skeleton was allocated an individual identification number and details of body position were recorded before planning at a scale of either 1:20 or 1:10. Levels were taken at the cranium, pelvis and feet using a standard theodolite and all burials were photographed in situ. Within the main area of excavation later interments had often truncated or disturbed earlier graves which meant that a large proportion of skeletons were very incomplete (see Chapter 4). A substantial quantity of disarticulated remains was gathered during the course of the excavation and these were bagged according to the 10 m grid square in which they were found (see McCarthy 2015). The intercutting of graves also resulted in it being difficult to identify individual grave cuts and these were generally only recordable for the deepest, and least disturbed, graves. Osteoarchaeological analysis of the adult skeletons (n=869) was undertaken during the period between 2006 and 2008 by Catriona McKenzie, as part of her doctoral research (McKenzie 2010), with the assistance of Róisín McCarthy. The juvenile skeletons were analysed by Eileen Murphy, with the assistance of Clare McGranaghan, over the same time period. Following the analyses, skeletal catalogues were initially compiled by Róisín McCarthy and Eileen Murphy and these have been updated throughout the project by the current authors and are available at www.qub.ac.uk/sites/Ballyhanna (see Appendices 2 and 3).

R A D I O C A R B O N DAT E S A N D P H A S I N G O F T H E B U R I A L S

Ballyhanna is one of the most extensively radiocarbon dated skeletal populations in Ireland to date, with a total of 72 individuals scientifically dated in this manner (5.6%; 72/1269; Fig. 1.6). The earliest burials dated from the late seventh to early eighth century AD and the burial ground appears to have remained in use until the first quarter of the seventeenth century. An underrepresentation of dates between the beginning of the eleventh century and the second half of the twelfth century was observed and does not appear to have been caused by a variation in the calibration curve. It is possible that a genuine decline in the use of the excavated part of the graveyard for the purposes of burial had occurred at this time (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 57–8). Macdonald and Carver (2015, 56–64) undertook a spatial analysis of the graveyard in an attempt to identify any changes in burial practice over its duration of use. They separated the radiocarbon dated skeletons into four successive, and partly overlapping, chronological groups – pre-AD 1000, AD 950–1300, AD 1250–1500 and post-AD 1450. The distribution of skeletons in each of these groups was then plotted by grid square. The skeletons, whose dates did not fall exclusively within a single chronological group when calibrated and expressed at two sigma, were excluded from this part of their

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 10

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

10

analysis. Overall, the results indicated that, in the first three chronological groups from pre-AD 1000–1500, the skeletons were distributed throughout the main area of excavation. In the last chronological group (post-AD 1450), however, burial was restricted exclusively to the eastern half of the main excavation area. This finding suggests that the majority of individuals were not being buried to the south of the church from at least the mid-fifteenth century onwards (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 58). Table 1.1 Details of adult skeletons that pre-date AD 1200 (n=16). SK no. SK 186A SK 197 SK 203 SK 348 SK 555 SK 566 SK 571 SK 634 SK 857 SK 885 SK 933 SK 1137 SK 1160 SK 1185 SK 1224 SK 1242

Sex Male Male Indeterminate Indeterminate Male Male Male Female Female Male Male Male Female Male Male Female

Age Middle adult Middle adult Adult Middle adult Young adult Young adult Young adult Young adult Young adult Middle adult Middle adult Middle adult Young adult Middle adult Young adult Young adult

Using the skeletons which had been radiocarbon dated and a stratigraphic Harris matrix attempts were made to separate the adult skeletons into two chronological groups, those that dated to AD 650–1200, and those that dated to after AD 1200. These two chronological groups approximately correspond to the early medieval period (c.AD 400–1200) and the later medieval period in Ireland (c.AD 1200–1650). It was hoped that by phasing the skeletons it would be possible to use the two groups to identify changes over time in the patterns of stress and disease. Unfortunately, it was only possible to allocate 16 adult skeletons to the early medieval phase (Table 1.1). As the sample size was so small it was concluded that no meaningful patterns would be identified in the data and, therefore, the skeletal collection has been treated as a single population sample. All radiocarbon dates are included throughout the publication, however, for the skeletons that have been dated. The inability to 1.6 (across) Calibrated ranges of the radiocarbon-dated skeletons (Prepared by Cormac McSparron).

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 11

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 12

12

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

differentiate between the burials of the early and later medieval periods is clearly a limitation in the study since significant political, social, and cultural changes occurred between these two periods. Nevertheless, since the programme of radiocarbon dating demonstrated that the vast majority of dated skeletons from Ballyhanna were of later medieval date (see Fig. 1.6), the study focuses predominantly on the period between c.AD 1200 and 1650.

A P P ROAC H E S T O M E D I E VA L G A E L I C I R E L A N D A N D H U M A N S K E L E TA L R E M A I N S I N I R E L A N D

As discussed above, the programme of scientific dating has indicated that the burial ground at Ballyhanna was in use for a period of over 1000 years, from the late seventh to early eighth centuries until the first quarter of the seventeenth century, although the vast majority of individuals were laid to rest between 1200 and 1650. This time period covers the latter half of the early medieval period (c.AD 400–1200) and the later medieval period (c.AD 1200– 1650). During this time, the area around Ballyshannon was under the autonomous control of Gaelic lords until the early seventeenth century and the Ballyhanna skeletal population therefore constitutes a predominantly Gaelic medieval population (see Chapter 2). To date, almost all of the medieval skeletal populations that have been excavated in Ireland come from areas that would have been under the influence of the Anglo-Normans, such as the Dominican Priory, Drogheda, Co. Louth (Halpin and Buckley 1995); the Dominican Priory, St Mary’s of the Isle, Co. Cork (Power 1995); Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry (Moore 2007) and Ardreigh, Co. Kildare (Troy 2010). Archaeological and historical research on the native Gaelic population of medieval Ireland was a topic that was largely neglected until the 1970s when a number of historians started to publish works on Gaelic Ireland (Duffy et al. 2001, 23). An increase in research on medieval Gaelic Ireland has occurred since that time, but relatively little remained known about the lives of the ordinary people. A seminal publication – Gaelic Ireland, c.1250–c.1650: Land, Lordship and Settlement – edited by Patrick Duffy, David Edwards and Elizabeth FitzPatrick (2001) included contributions from leading scholars in history, archaeology and historical geography. Potential reasons for the deficit of work on Gaelic Ireland in each of the three disciplines were advanced in the introduction to the book. In archaeology, for example, up until the 1970s emphasis was placed on the investigation of earlier time periods for which there was ‘little or no documentary evidence’ (Duffy et al. 2001, 32). Over the past four decades historians have re-examined contemporary Irish sources including annals, law tracts, genealogies and bardic poetry. Recent key texts by historians in the study of Gaelic Ireland include Kenneth Nicholls’ (2003)

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 13

Introduction

13

second edition of Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle Ages and Katharine Simms’ (2000) paperback edition of From Kings to Warlords. Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c.1100–1600: A Cultural Landscape Study, by Elizabeth FitzPatrick (2004), was the first book to focus solely on an archaeological investigation of Gaelic Ireland and was closely followed by Colin Breen’s (2005) The Gaelic Lordship of the O’Sullivan Beare: A Landscape Cultural History. These latter publications have successfully adopted a landscape approach to advancing the study of Gaelic Ireland. Concurrently, over the past three decades there has been an increase in the numbers of skeletal collections excavated in Ireland. It was estimated in 2003 that some 15–20,000 human skeletons had been excavated from archaeological sites in the years between 1989 and 1998 (O’Sullivan and Killgore 2003, 6) and it is likely that a similar number were excavated in the subsequent ten-year period. The majority of these skeletal populations have been analysed by trained osteoarchaeologists who have produced reports on their findings. Unfortunately, many of these reports remain unpublished and lie outside the public domain. Until relatively recently, they were often included as appendices to general excavation reports but the results of the osteological findings were not included within the overall narrative for a site. This trend is changing, however, and over the past decade a number of chapters have been included in books on Irish archaeology which have focused on the findings derived from human skeletal remains. A volume entitled Death and Burial in Early Medieval Ireland in the Light of Recent Archaeological Excavations and edited by Christiaan Corlett and Michael Potterton (2010) is of major importance since it highlighted the vast quantity of work that has been undertaken in recent years. Furthermore, it also clearly demonstrated the value of incorporating information retrieved from these remains within the overall interpretation of archaeological sites – a biocultural approach. More recently, Jonny Geber (2015) has demonstrated this in his sensitive and poignant volume entitled Victims of Ireland’s Great Famine: The Bioarchaeology of Mass Burials at Kilkenny Union Workhouse in which the people who endured the nineteenth-century famine are absolutely central to the narrative. In this publication a ‘biocultural approach’ has been adopted. The premise of this approach is that the diseases or injuries present in a population are never a matter of chance – they are a reflection of the strains and stresses of the environment to which they were exposed (Wells 1964, 17). Using this method, emphasis is placed on the role of health in the interaction between a population, their associated culture, and their local environment (Bush and Zvelebil 1991, 5). In this volume we recognize that the term health is problematic as according to the World Health Organization definition it refers to ‘a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease, or infirmity’ (WHO 1999, 10). In attempting to

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 14

14

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

determine the complex issue of the health of the Ballyhanna population we are trying to assess the impact of diseases that affected the skeletal system (as identified through pathological lesions) and skeletal indicators of stress on individuals and the wider community. We are conscious that understandings of health as physical, mental and social well-being will vary with individual experience and that in many cases ill-health may leave no markers on the underlying bones. Furthermore, we recognize that skeletal indictors of stress are suggestive of physiological disruption at a certain stage of development; but may not necessarily be indicative of longer term ill-health (Temple and Goodman 2014, 190) (see Chapter 8). As discussed above, many of the archaeological studies that have focused on Gaelic Ireland have followed a landscape approach. While not wishing to detract from any of these important research endeavours, it is also important to consider other strands of evidence when interpreting past populations.

S T RU C T U R E O F T H E VO LU M E

Each chapter starts with a verse derived from Irish Bardic Poetry, the works of poets trained in Bardic Schools in Ireland and the Gaelic parts of Scotland, that date from approximately the thirteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries and were compiled by Osborn Bergin (1970). These poems were written by people living in medieval Gaelic Ireland and they provide a further way for us to hear their voices. In addition to his English translation, the original Later Middle Irish/Early Modern Irish versions are provided since this is the language that the people buried at Ballyhanna would have spoken. This chapter has presented a general introduction to the osteoarchaeological study of the people buried at Ballyhanna. An overview has been provided of the background to the discovery of the site, the main findings of the excavation, and the manner by which it was dated. The significance of the discovery of a medieval Gaelic Irish population has been discussed and the rationale for the research approach used in the study presented. Chapter 2 will briefly outline the historical and archaeological context of the skeletal remains, while Chapter 3 will examine the nature of the burial practices evident at Ballyhanna. The remaining chapters present the osteoarchaeological data – Chapter 4 focuses on the condition of the skeletons and the repercussions of this for the succeeding skeletal analysis. This is followed in Chapter 5 by an analysis of the demographic composition of the population and a consideration of the factors that may have been influencing its mortality profile. In Chapter 6 developmental anomalies identified in the population are outlined, and the possible genetic or environmental factors that may have influenced their occurrence are reviewed. Chapter 7 focuses on dental information and

01 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:17 Page 15

Introduction

15

discusses diet in medieval Gaelic Ireland. The evidence for physiological stress in the population is discussed in Chapter 8, while Chapter 9 outlines the evidence for nutritional deficiencies and metabolic diseases, namely rickets and osteoporosis. Chapters 10, 11 and 12 discuss circulatory disorders, nonspecific infections and specific infections, respectively. A number of these conditions would have had a major impact on the quality of the lives of the affected individuals and the repercussions of this are considered. Chapter 13 explores the nature of traumatic injuries apparent in the skeletons and the activities that may have been responsible for them. This is followed by a further consideration of activities in Chapter 14 in which the focus is joint disease. Chapter 15 provides details of the instances of weapon-related injuries identified in the skeletal collection, while Chapter 16 considers potential evidence for medical practice and surgical procedures. A summary of the findings and the insights they have yielded in relation to life and death in medieval Gaelic Ireland is provided in Chapter 17. Throughout this publication, the osteological data are presented within the chapter while the biocultural interpretations, which interweave findings derived from the archaeological and historical context with the biological information, are considered in the discussions or summaries at the end of each chapter. Where possible, any patterns identified in the data have been compared to findings derived from the rural skeletal assemblage from Ardreigh, Co. Kildare (Troy 2010), which is contemporary in date with Ballyhanna, but comes from an area which was largely under Anglo-Norman control. Comparisons with other skeletal collections from Ireland are made when possible. Full osteological analyses have still to be published for Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry (later medieval) and Cabinteely, Co. Dublin (early-later medieval), and therefore these substantial populations have not been used for comparative purposes. Comparisons are also made with Wharram Percy, Yorkshire (Mays 2007), as this is also a large contemporary rural medieval skeletal collection albeit, from a completely different country. Differences in methodological approaches and in the presentation of data in the final reports complicate inter-site comparisons and so interpretations are formed around this caveat. This research provided us with an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of one local Gaelic medieval community and it is hoped that the conclusions will make a significant contribution to the growing corpus of information concerning Gaelic medieval Ireland and contemporary populations across Europe.

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 16

2. History and archaeology ‘Gorm fallán fér na hinnse, dlúith a coillte cnóimhillse, cnuas toghtha is iomdha orra, tolcha tiorma taobhchorra’. ‘Green and flourishing is the grass of the island, thick are her nut-sweet woods, plentiful is choice fruit upon the dry smooth-sided hillocks’. ‘Love of Ireland’, verse 20 – poem attributed to Fearghal Óg Mac an Bhaird (Bergin 1970, 39, 227)

I N T RO D U C T I O N

As we have seen in Chapter 1, the graveyard at Ballyhanna was in use from the late seventh to early eighth century AD until the site was abandoned at some stage during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. This chapter will provide a brief overview of the history of Tír Conaill (the region now encompassed within modern Donegal) and, more specifically, the environs surrounding Ballyhanna across this period of time. The management of church lands in the region will be discussed, as well as the nature of housing and settlement in medieval times. Finally, economic and trade links over the period will also be considered. Overall, this chapter will help us to understand and appreciate the political, social and economic context experienced by the people who eventually came to be buried in the graveyard at Ballyhanna. A background of the history and archaeology of the region has previously been published by Donnelly (2015) and this should be consulted for more detailed discussion. The modern day townland of Ballyhanna is located in the barony of Tirhugh and the civil parish of Inishmacsaint (Donnelly 1861, 85). The place name, Tirhugh, is derived from the Irish medieval place name of Tír Aodha – ‘the territory of Hugh’ – and this was the medieval name for a region which contained three tuatha – Mag Sereth, Es Ruaid and Mag nÉne (Fig. 2.1). Ballyhanna would have been located within Mag nÉne (‘The plain of Ene’), which extended south from the River Erne to the River Drowes, and was situated in the southern section of Tír Aodha. Ballyhanna was positioned close to the important medieval ford over the River Erne at Áth Seanaigh. This was a very significant location as it provided a safe route across the River Erne thereby enabling access between Ulster and Connaught. Across the river to the north the place name of Assaroe comes from the Irish, Es Áeda Ruaid, which

16

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 17

History and archaeology

17

2.1 Map of medieval Tír Aodha (Tirhugh) (after Donnelly 2015, illus. 2.1).

translates as ‘Red Hugh’s Cataract’ – the cataract being a large waterfall that is marked on the Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map sheet from the 1830s. Legend suggests that the Red Hugh who gave his name to the region was Aodh Ruadh mac Badhuirn, and that he drowned at this point in the river in 598 (Donnelly 2015, 16).

B A L LYS H A N N O N I N T H E E A R LY M E D I E VA L P E R I O D

As with many early histories, the traditional story of Tír Conaill is an amalgamation of fact, myth and legend and it suggests that four sons of Niall

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 18

18

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

of the Nine Hostages (Niall Naoighiallach) – Cairpre, Conall, Enna and Eogain – launched an invasion into the region known as modern Donegal in the late fifth century. Once the four sons had conquered the territory they divided the land between themselves, with each establishing their own kingdom. Two of these kingdoms, Cenél Conaill and Cenél nEógain, became particularly powerful and shared the over-kingship of Ulster for the next three centuries (Mac Giolla Easpaig 1995, 150). Lacey (2006, 320) has investigated and revised this traditional history, suggesting that all of the dynasties, with the exception of Cenél Cairpre Tuatha Ratha were probably native to the region, and it is unlikely that they were related to Niall of the Nine Hostages. The Cenél Cairpre Tuatha Ratha are thought to have originally held the territory between the Owenmore River in Co. Sligo and the River Erne, including the territory known as Mag nÉne. During the sixth century they crossed the River Erne into what is now south Donegal and the barony of Tirhugh and held this area ‘as far north as the church at Ráith Cungi (Racoo, in the modern townland of Ballymagrorty Scotch), until perhaps around 640’ (Lacey 2003, 80; Donnelly 2015, 17). Over the course of the sixth and seventh centuries the Cenél Conaill managed to push the Cenél Cairpre Tuatha Ratha back south of the River Erne (Lacey 2006, 320) and then claimed ownership of the Mag nÉne territory to the extent that by the twelfth century the Cenél Cairpre Tuatha Ratha had been pushed to the east of Belleek to what is today the barony of Magheraboy in Co. Fermanagh. This loss of Mag nÉne appears to have remained a sore point among the descendant lineages of the Cenél Cairpre Tuatha Ratha. It was mentioned in the 1278 Register of Clogher, when Gilbert Ó Flannagáin, their taoiseach (leader), swore that Mag nÉne had been part of his lands but had been occupied by the Ó Domnaill during the latter’s conflict with the Anglo-Normans (Simms 1995, 185), while the contention was also featured centuries later in a fifteenth-century poem. The area of Mag nÉne, however, was to remain under the control of the Cenél Conaill until the early years of the seventeenth century (Donnelly 2015, 17). Donnelly’s (2015, 17–18) review of Tomás Ó Canann’s (1986; 2003) research noted how during the course of the late eighth and early ninth centuries two major lineages – the Ua Canannáin and the Ua Maíl Doraid – existed within the Cenél Conaill, with each competing for the kingship. Between 941 and 1250, the Ua Canannáin were clearly the more successful lineage as they held the kingship 22 times. By the tenth century, the Ua Canannáin were based in the northern territory of Mag Sereth, near modernday Donegal town, while the Ua Maíl Doraid controlled the lands to the south, near modern day Belleek, in Mag nÉne. In between these two lineages lay Es Ruaid and this territory belong to the lineage ‘who held the overkingship of Cenél Conaill at any given time’ (Ó Canann 1986, 37; see Fig. 2.1).

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 19

History and archaeology

19

B A L LYS H A N N O N I N T H E L AT E R M E D I E VA L P E R I O D

Moving into the later medieval period, and the time when the majority of burials took place at Ballyhanna (see Chapter 1), we know that the last Ua Maíl Doraid king who ruled over the Cenél Conaill was Flaitbheartach who died in 1197. He left no clear heir and the Ua Canannáin were too weak to win the kingship. As a result, smaller lineages within the Cenél Conaill came forward and the leadership was eventually won by Éicnechán Ó Domnaill around 1200 (Donnelly 2015, 21–2). The Ó Domnaill lineage initially controlled northern Tír Conaill but, following their success in securing leadership of the Cenél Conaill, they extended their influence south into the lands of Tír Aodha. By placing themselves in Tír Aodha, at the heart of the lands previously held by the Ua Canannáin and Ua Maíl Doraid lineages they were able to establish control over the three tuatha of Mag Sereth, Es Ruaid and Mag nÉne (Donnelly 2015, 22). The Ó Domnaill divided these areas into estates which were then granted to their lucht tighe (supporting lineages) and learned classes. The important Cistercian monastery at Assaroe on the River Erne had first been established in the last years of the twelfth century by the Ua Maíl Doraid and Ua Canannáin lineages. It retained its importance under the new rulers and in 1241, for example, it is recorded that Domnall Mór Ó Domnaill, who ruled from 1207 to 1241, having ‘died in the monastic habit, victorious over the world and the devil … was interred with honour and respect in the monastery of Assaroe, in the harvest time’ (O’Donovan 1856, iii, 303). The Ó Domnaill lineage may also have settled in Tír Aodha in order to act as a deterrent to Anglo-Norman expansion from the south. During the midthirteenth century they were under particular threat from Maurice FitzGerald (1194–1257), second Lord of Offaly and former Justiciar of Ireland, who had who been awarded lands in modern-day Sligo ‘together with a speculative grant of the as yet unconquered kingdom’ of Tír Conaill by Hugh de Lacy II (Simms 1995, 184). Initially, the Anglo-Normans had some success, winning a battle at the ford of Áth Seanaigh in which Máel Sechlainn Ó Domnaill, the ruler of Tír Conaill (1241–7), was killed. Following this victory the AngloNormans built a new castle in 1252 at Cáeluisce, a district along the route of the River Erne (Donnelly 2015, 22–3). The leadership of Tír Conaill was then won by Ruaidrí Ó Canannáin but, based on evidence derived from the annals, Donnelly (2015, 23) has suggested that he may have initially been a puppet-ruler for the Anglo-Normans. He argues that if this was indeed the case the arrangement did not last long and, when the Anglo-Normans returned to Ballyshannon in 1247, they were met by Ó Canannáin and were prevented from pushing further into Tír Conaill. Entries in the Annals of The Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616 (AFM) are indicative of collaboration between

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 20

20

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

2.2 Sixteenth-century woodcut depicting a group of Gaelic Irish soldiers. The title – DRAVN AFTER THE QVICKE – refers to the fact that the anonymous artist had drawn the six men from life (WA 1863.3908 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford).

the Anglo-Normans and the Ó Domnaill, with the Anglo-Normans allegedly attacking Ballyshannon at the request of Gofraid Ó Domnaill, to whom FitzGerald gave the lordship in 1248, while banishing Ruaidrí Ó Canannáin to Tír Eoghan (modern Tyrone). A counter-attack by the Ó Canannáin, with the assistance of the Ó Neill lineage, failed and resulted in Ruaidrí’s death. Niall Ó Canannáin gained the lordship of Tír Conaill over the Ó Domnaill lineage in 1249, but was killed shortly after in 1250, and after this date the Ó Canannáin lineage is not mentioned again in any of the annals. The Ó Domnaill lineage had regained control of Tír Conaill under the leadership of Gofraid and they were to remain as the territory’s rulers through to 1603. During the fourteenth century a number of events curbed the expansion of the Anglo-Normans into the Gaelic regions of Ireland, including Tír Conaill. These included the Bruce Wars (1315–18), which coincided with a period of great famine throughout Europe, and was followed by the Black Death in 1348. By the end of the fourteenth century the territories controlled by the AngloNormans (or by this time the Anglo-Irish) were based around Dublin, in an area known as the Pale, although significant lordships were also present in the south

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 21

History and archaeology

21

and east of the island. Elsewhere, the land was ruled by Gaelic lords, and this would remain the case until the mid-sixteenth century (Donnelly 2015, 23–4). S O C I A L O RG A N I Z AT I O N

Medieval Gaelic Ireland was a hierarchical society comprised of autonomous lineages. At the head of the lineages were the Gaelic lords who controlled both a territory and the people within that landscape (Nicholls 2003, 24). The strength of a lineage was, therefore, largely dependent upon the ability and military strength of an individual lord, along with the following and support commanded by the lord both within his own lineage and in supporting lineages (Fig. 2.2). The more powerful Gaelic lord also sought to demand submission and tribute as overlord to neighbouring lordships, particularly smaller vassal lordships, who, in return, paid tributes and swore an oath of allegiance (O’Dowd 1986, 121–2). In addition, there was also often an obligation to provide military support to the lineage of the overlord to whom the oath was sworn. In practice this system was dependent upon the military strength of the overlord and the lineages involved; some of the vassals were large and strong enough to have had a degree of autonomy within the territory of the overlord. The Ceart Uí Néill is one of the most important surviving contemporary documents and it highlights the tributes and levies which were owed to the Ó Neill by the other lordships of Gaelic Ulster. While it may be an accurate account of what was demanded from the lucht tighe, or household families, it would appear to be aspirational in what the Ó Neill might hope to gain from stronger rival lineages such as that of the Ó Domnaill. Over a period of time, lineages could expand or decline in political importance and, as such, the relationship between the overlord and his vassals could in turn become redefined as smaller or weaker lineages died away or joined the landless poor (Nicholls 2003, 5). The lords of the lineages received a tribute or rent from every freeholder in their territory. Tributes varied between the different lordships but could include money, oats, butter, bread, wheat, beef and labour during the harvest season (Nicholls 2003, 34). Contemporary law tracts indicate frequent confusion between what was actually owed and what a lord was claiming as extortion (Nicholls 2003, 34–5). In addition to rents, further levies, often quite substantive in nature, were frequently requested from those residing in a territory. These levies included the provision of shelter and food for the lord’s soldiers, horses and dogs; payment for entertainment of guests by the lord; payment for the cost of travel made by the lord or his family; the provision of free labour to build and repair the lord’s residences and castles; free transport of materials and goods within his territory and payment for the entertainment of the lord’s family (O’Dowd 1986, 124; Nicholls 2003, 34–7).

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 22

22

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

Land under the control of a lord was normally divided up for different uses and FitzPatrick (2004, 5) has described five distinct categories of landholding within Gaelic lordships. These comprise 1) the estates of the various branches of the ruling family; 2) the demesne estate attached to the lord himself, generally situated around his principal residence; 3) the estates that formed the mensal lands that provisioned the lord’s household; 4) the estates of the main freeholders and 5) church lands free from the lord’s exactions. The demesne lands and the mensal lands for the Ó Domnaill were located in Tír Aodha and it was here that the lucht tighe were based (Simms 1995, 190). The lucht tighe included the professional classes – brehons, historians, scholars, poets, galloglass, harpers and physicians (Loeber 2001, 304; Nicholls 2003, 91). They were small landholders and, in return for their services, the lands held by these professionals were often exempted from the tributes and levies that were enforced upon other freeholders. The lucht tighe for the Ó Domnaill lineage included the Ó Cléirigh historians, who held land in Kilbarron, Kildony, Creevy and Drumacrin; the Mac an Bhaird poets at Ballymacward and Lettermacaward; the Ó hUiginn poets at Ballymunterhiggin, and the Mac Duinnshléibhe physicians (Donnelly 2015, 25). Poorer tenants and agricultural labourers are often referred to in contemporary documents as the ‘unfree’. Nicholls (2003, 79) suggests that this term applied to individuals who had, in return for land or stock, agreed to remain loyal to a lord and his heirs. There may have been an element of mobility among the lower classes if they were not bound to a lord (O’Dowd 1986, 129), but those who did not own their own stock or seed would have been completely dependent upon the lord and the freeholders for access to land for cultivation. C H U RC H L A N D S AT B A L LYS H A N N O N

Radiocarbon dating evidence demonstrates that people were being buried at Ballyhanna during the early medieval period, and the presence of a possible reliquary shrine in the burial ground may be indicative that this was the location of an early religious settlement possibly with a timber church (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 53). As mentioned above, church lands were often exempt from the rents and tributes demanded by the secular lords within Gaelic territories since they were held by the local bishop. The system of management of church lands was outlined to the English administrators at an inquisition held in Lifford in 1609, where they were told that in ‘ancient times’ lands were given by the lord of a region to a local saint; this land then passed to the local bishop as a result of the twelfth-century reforms which saw the creation of dioceses and the establishment of an associated network of parishes. The management of the estate could not be undertaken by the bishop himself

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 23

History and archaeology

23

and so he would appoint managers, in the form of erenaghs, to oversee the lands on his behalf (Ó Gallachair 1961, 27). As managers of the estate the main roles of the erenagh lineage would have included the farming of the land with their sub-tenants and agricultural workers, the maintenance of church buildings, the protection of relics, the provision of hospitality for travellers, the education of the local clergy, and the entertainment of the bishop during his episcopal visitations (Nicholls 2003, 129–30). The outlay for all of these activities would have been covered by the revenue generated by the estate. Men within the erenagh lineages were often well educated and frequently pursued a career in the church, often becoming clergy for the local parishes (McKenzie 2010, 39; Donnelly 2015, 39). As such, the erenagh ‘was an important personage on the local scene, really a local territorial lord’ (Ó Gallachair 1961, 27), whose lineage enjoyed a privileged position within the society of medieval Gaelic Ireland. When an erenagh died, the lands reverted back to the control of the bishop until a replacement erenagh was appointed. The erenagh, similar to a secular lord, was elected by males from within their lineage and the appointment was then approved by the bishop. When an erenagh lineage died out the lands were transferred to the bishop who was then tasked with the selection of the next erenagh lineage. The new lineage would appoint their leader who would then be approved by the bishop (Ó Gallachair 1961, 27). Following the twelfth-century reforms, Ballyhanna was included in the medieval parish of Inishmacsaint, in the diocese of Clogher, and was therefore erenagh land under the control of the Bishop of Clogher. The inquisition in 1609 recorded two chapels-of-ease associated with the parish of Inishmacsaint – one at Finner and a second at Ballyhanna (Donnelly 2015, 39): Enishmissaugh parish … in this parish is the chapel of ease of Fennoare in Macginy, to which the vicar is to send a curate, also the chapel of Ballihanny, with 1 qr of herenagh land, old measure, of which McGackequin is herenagh, and pays thereout yearly to the bishop of Clogher 3s. 4d. (Extract from the Crown Commission’s Inquisition at Enniskillen on 18 September 1609; Hatchell 1966, 383–4). This is the only surviving documentary evidence for the existence of a chapelof-ease at Ballyhanna and it provides further key information by identifying its erenagh lineage as ‘McGockequin’. Father Ó Gallachair (1960, 278; 1961, 27) has highlighted that ‘McGockequin’ is clearly an English attempt to record a Gaelic surname phonetically. It is possible that this Irish surname may have been Magumháin, Meagudháin, Mac Gudhain or Mac Gabhann. It is certainly the case that anglicized versions of the latter surname are still common in the area today and take the form of McGowan, Goan, Coan, Coane and Keown, and, as such, it is probable that ‘McGockequin’ equates with ‘Mac Gabhann’.

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 24

24

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

In the late nineteenth century local historian Hugh Allingham attempted to find the remains of the chapel at Ballyhanna but upon finding no extant remains he tentatively suggested that the inquisition had confused the boundaries of the townlands of Ballyhanna and Sminver which are contiguous (Allingham 1879, 74; Begley 2009, 469). During extensive construction works for the hydro-electric dam in Ballyshannon in the 1940s, Father Ó Gallachair also looked for the chapel in the townland of Ballyhanna but found no visible traces of it. Like Allingham he concluded that, rather than a chapel having existed at Ballyhanna, the inquest must have been referring to a chapel at Sminver, which is located nearby (Ó Gallachair 1961, 35). Citing place name evidence he supported this argument by stating that: ‘Sminver was also called Fallychocaen, a corruption of BallyMcGockquin, which the jurors call Ballyhanny’ (Ó Gallachair 1961, 35). He further suggests that the same erenagh lineage may also have managed the church lands at Finner for the Bishop of Clogher. He observed that a hill on the Ballyshannon side of Finner churchyard was known as ‘Knockmakigan’ which he considered to be an English corruption of a Gaelic place name and that may have originally been the name ‘McGockquin’s Hill’ (Ó Gallachair 1961, 35). The discovery of the medieval church and burial ground at Ballyhanna has proven both Allingham and Ó Gallachair to be incorrect. Donnelly (2015, 40), however, has noted that the place name evidence still contains a significant point. If Sminver was indeed originally called Fallychocaen, a corruption of BallyMcGockquin, then it is suggestive that the McGockquins had acted as estate managers for the lands associated not only with Ballyhanna and Finner but also at Sminver. We know that Ballyhanna and Finner were both owned by the Bishop of Clogher, but the lands at Sminver were owned by the Cistercian monks of Assaroe Abbey. As such, it may have been the case that all three estates were managed by the same erenagh lineage, or sub-branches of that same lineage. Assaroe Abbey is located on the northern side of the River Erne at Ballyshannon and was established by the Cistercians whose first monastery in Ireland was founded at Mellifont, Co. Louth, in 1142. They later built a Cistercian house at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in 1161, and Assaroe Abbey was built as a daughter-house to Boyle Abbey (Stalley 1987, 242). Donnelly’s (2015, 21) review of the sources in relation to Assaroe Abbey discuss how Cistercian sources indicate a foundation date of 23 November 1178 by Ruaidrí Ua Canannáin, while the AFM record in 1184 that: ‘The monastery of Assaroe was granted to God and St. Bernard by Flaherty O’Muldory, lord of KinelConnell, for the good of his soul’ (O’Donovan 1856, iii, 63). While it may appear that these dates contradict each other, it is possible that the abbey was founded in 1178 but dedicated in 1184. It is equally possible that both the Ua Canannáin and Ua Maíl Doraid lineages within Cenél Conaill were supportive 2.3 (across) Bartlett map of 1602 showing: top – an unidentified lake and crannog, middle – Dungannon Castle, and bottom – Tullaghoge inauguration site with a detail of the Ó Neill inauguration chair below (© National Library of Ireland, MS 2656, v). Note the substantial building depicted at Tullaghoge alongside a building of more usual proportions and that none of these buildings are depicted with chimneys.

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 25

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 26

26

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

of this development given that it would demonstrate their commitment to the Church’s reform programme and thereby secure clerical support for their political activities. Such a strategic view would have been particularly important within the political landscape of Ireland in the wake of the arrival in 1169 of the Anglo-Normans who were intent on taking over Gaelic territories such as Tír Conaill (Donnelly 2015, 21). In the thirteenth century the new Ó Domnaill lineage ensured that their ties with the Cistercian monks at Assaroe Abbey were equally as strong. As we have seen above, the second Ó Domnaill lord – Domnall Mór Ó Domnaill – was buried at the abbey in 1241, while in 1333 it is recorded that Aodh Ó Domhnaill, died ‘in the habit of a monk, on the island of Inis-Saimer, and was interred with great honour and solemnity in the monastery of Assaroe’ (O’Donovan 1856, iii, 553). Assaroe Abbey continued as a high status site into the fifteenth century and, for example, in 1423 Toirdhealbhach Ó Domhnaill ‘died in the habit of a monk, in the monastery of Assaroe’ (O’Donovan 1856, iv, 859). In this last example it is not clear exactly where Toirdhealbhach Ó Domhnaill was laid to rest but the association of the abbey with Gaelic lords remains clear and members of elite Gaelic society in Tír Conaill would have been buried in high status foundations, such as Assaroe Abbey and Donegal Friary (Donnelly 2015, 28). The vast majority of medieval Gaelic society, however, would have been part of the lower classes and these are the people who are likely to have been buried in the graveyards of chapels such as those at Finner, Ballyhanna and Sminver (Donnelly 2015, 38). As such, it is probable that the Ballyhanna skeletal population represent the remains of the ordinary people of medieval Gaelic society.

HOUSING AND SETTLEMENT

We have established that the chapel at Ballyhanna would have administered to the local community who worked on the erenagh estate but we know little about where these people lived or the nature of their homes. Very few Gaelic Irish houses have been excavated, but cartographic evidence suggests that the majority of the population would have lived in two main types of house. The first has been named a ‘creat’ and this was a small circular or oval house with only one room and no windows. The walls were made of wattle-and-daub, and the roof was covered in sod. In these houses a hearth was located in the centre of the room and the smoke escaped through a hole in the roof (O’Conor 1998, 95). Creats seem to have been used mostly as temporary accommodation, for ‘booleying’, the seasonal migration of people and animals during the summer months to upland and woodland areas, but they were also used as permanent residences by the poorest people in Gaelic society (O’Conor 2002, 202). It

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 27

History and archaeology

27

2.4 Detail from Browne and Baptiste’s 1591 map, showing their depiction of Assaroe Abbey, Ballyshannon Castle, an unnamed old castle, possibly Ballyhanna Castle, and the castle at Belleek (© The National Archives, ref. MPF1/81).

seems inevitable that some of those interred at Ballyhanna would have belonged to this echelon of society and would have lived in such dwellings. Dating of creats is difficult to assess since none of these houses have been archaeologically excavated but O’Conor (2002, 208) suggests they were in use from the late twelfth century to beyond 1600. A military map from Carrickfergus dated to approximately 1560 depicts creats, although none of these structures were found during excavations at this location (Horning 2004, 377). The second type of house was more substantial and was probably the most common form of dwelling among people in Gaelic society. These houses were also one roomed but they were sub-rectangular in plan, with rounded corners, low walls and built using clay, sod or wattle-and-daub (Fig. 2.3). They had thatched roofs which were supported by cruck-trusses. As was the case for the smaller creat houses, these dwellings had a central hearth, and the roof had an opening in it to let the smoke out. Foundations of these relatively substantial later medieval Gaelic houses have been discovered in Co. Antrim during excavations at Gleenmakeeran and Goodlands (O’Conor 1998, 96) and, most recently, at Slievenacloy in 2015 (McSparron pers. comm.). In addition, the remains of a mud- or turf-walled building with curved corners and a hipped roof, interpreted as a possible longhouse, was identified at Portmuck, Islandmagee, and dated to 1150–1500 (Anderson and Rees 2004, 76, 103). Used by both people and animals for shelter, both types of houses are likely to have been

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 28

28

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

overcrowded and poorly ventilated. A third type of house is depicted on maps by Bartlett and other English cartographers in early seventeenth-century maps (see Fig. 2.3). These comprise large substantial timber buildings which are often two stories high. Houses such as these may have been the residences of the more affluent freeholders and minor lords (Donnelly et al. 2008, 17). The buildings that tend to survive from medieval Gaelic Ireland generally comprise the residences of the elite levels in society, such as tower houses for the period after c.1400. These structures provided defensive capability to the occupants, but were essentially residential in nature, serving to protect a lord and his family against petty crimes and localized warfare, while also acting as centres of economic activity for the rural settlements that surrounded them (O’Conor 1998, 102; Donnelly 2001, 319). In Lifford in 1601, it is recorded that beside the Ó Domhnaill castle, within a ditched enclosure, there were approximately 80 houses (Nicholls 2003, 141). Niall Garb Ó Domhnaill built a castle in 1423 at Ballyshannon, perhaps as a means of guarding the strategic ford across the River Erne, and also as a response to the construction of a castle nearby by his rival Brian Ó Conchobhair Sligigh at Bundrowes in 1419 (McKenzie 2010, 44; Donnelly 2015, 32). A historical depiction of the castle at Ballyshannon from 1593 indicates that this was a tower house. As such, the castle was constructed at an early stage in the adoption of this building series in Ireland. This in turn indicates that the Ó Domnaill lineage were not only willing to adopt new ideas but also that they were aware of innovations happening elsewhere on the island (Donnelly 2015, 36). A stone castle also existed at Ballyhanna but this is now submerged under the waters of Assaroe Lake as a result of the 1946 River Erne Hydro-Electric Scheme. Prior to its submersion, however, it was surveyed by Oliver Davies who noted it was a fairly robust and basic building with little architectural detail. It is possible that Ballyhanna Castle may be the ‘olde castell’ depicted on the Brown and Baptiste map of 1591 (Fig. 2.4), where it is shown on the southern bank of the river close to the castle of Belleek (Donnelly 2015, 34–5). While the castle at Ballyhanna may have been a stronghold for the Ó Domnaill on the southern bank of the river, it can also be suggested that the castle may have been the residence of the McGockquin erenaghs, a proposition supported by the fact that the Ó Cléirigh, a lineage of professional historians, had their own castle at Kilbarron, also near Ballyshannon. The castle depicted on the 1591 map was already in a ruined condition at that time and this perhaps explains the reason why it was not mentioned in the 1609 inquisition (Donnelly 2015, 42–3). As discussed above, cartographic and documentary evidence is suggestive that hamlets and villages frequently developed around the principal residences of Gaelic lords throughout the medieval period. Captain Francisco de Cuéllar was a sea captain with the Spanish Armada who was shipwrecked in 1588 and

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 29

History and archaeology

29

came ashore in the west of Ireland. A letter he wrote to King Philip II of Spain on 4 October 1589 provides some interesting insights about Gaelic society. When travelling he met the Ó Ruairc lord and stayed at the Mac Fhlannchadha castle in Rossclogher (in modern day Co. Leitrim) for three months. He described the defensive nature of the castle saying that it was ‘very stout’ and ‘built on a deep lake’; this tower house was built upon an older crannog in the western end of Lough Melvin. Captain Francisco de Cuéllar also mentions the presence of a village in the immediate vicinity, which was ‘built on solid ground’ thereby inferring that it was located on the shoreline of the lough (Sedgwick 1896, 78–80). The preceding examples make it feasible that a small nucleated village or hamlet may have developed around the castle at Ballyhanna but it is also probable that many of the people living on the erenagh estate would have been residing in dispersed settlement on the landscape. ECONOMY AND DIET

The medieval community buried at Ballyhanna would have been both pastoral and arable farmers. Animal bone assemblages from rural later medieval contexts in the north of Ireland are very scarce, with an exception being a small assemblage recovered from a settlement at Portmuck, Islandmagee, Co. Antrim, in which cattle predominated (67.9%), with sheep/goat (19.7%) being of secondary importance and horse (8.0%) of tertiary significance (Murphy 2004, 98). The age-at-death profiles for both cattle and sheep/goat indicated the slaughter of semi-mature, or mature animals, and is suggestive of their exploitation for meat. The remains of four horses which ranged in age from 2– 3 years to 9–13 years were present. Butchery marks identified on a horse first phalanx were indicative of the detachment of the hoof from the rest of the carcass, thereby suggesting the animals were not only used for transport but perhaps also for meat and/or industrial purposes. Pig, dog, cat, fox, grey seal, goose, cod and ling bones were also recovered but in very small numbers (Hamilton-Dyer 2004, 101; Murphy 2004, 101). Butchery marks identified on two grey seal bones provide evidence that marine mammals were at least occasionally exploited but this is not surprising given the coastal nature of the site (Murphy 2004, 101). The later medieval site at Portmuck has been interpreted as a labourer’s settlement (Anderson and Rees 2004, 104), but cattle were important to the upper levels within Gaelic society and the size and quality of the cattle herd was indicative of the wealth, influence and social status of a lord. In a society where bartering was the main form of business transaction, cattle were of particular importance and were often used as payment for hiring mercenary soldiers (O’Dowd 1986, 130). Throughout the medieval period cattle herds

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 30

30

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

2.5 Detail from John Thomas’ pictorial map of the Battle of the Erne Fords which took place on 10 October 1593 showing the harbour and the Ó Domnaill tower house at Ballyshannon and Assaroe Abbey. Note the reference to ‘The Leape’ in the drawing of the river along with the depiction of a large fish, presumably a salmon (© The British Library Board, ref. Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.38).

remained one of the most valuable, mobile commodities. In turbulent times animals could be moved with people into the mountains or woodlands – the crops that had to be left behind were often burned (Nicholls 2003, 131). In 1435, for example, the AFM record: O’Neill proceeded with an army into Fermanagh, and pitched his camp at Craev-Ua-bh-Fuadachain, where he remained three nights and days. The inhabitants of Fermanagh sent their cattle and all their moveables westward across Lough Erne; and it was not in boats that they conveyed

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 31

History and archaeology

31

them, but over the ice, which was then so great that steeds and horses carrying burdens were wont to cross the lake upon it (O’Donovan 1856, iv, 903). Animals clearly provided a wide range of commodities, including labour for agriculture and transport. They would have been a major source of food, for example, meat, dairy products and eggs, and many of their by-products, both during life and after death, such as manure, bones, horns, hides, wool, fat and marrow, were valuable raw materials (Murphy and Potterton 2010, 326–7). As was the case for the settlement at Portmuck, most medieval assemblages of animal bone also contain small numbers of bones derived from horses, dogs and cats, along with generally very small proportions of bird, fish and wild animals, such as red deer and wild boar (see e.g. McCormick and Murphy 1997; McCormick and Murray 2007, 39; Murphy 2007a; Beglane 2012). It is probable that the smaller bones of birds and fish, however, are underrepresented in archaeozoological assemblages as a consequence of taphonomic factors. Given the location of Ballyhanna on the banks of the River Erne we might expect fish to have formed a major component of the diet of those buried there. Fishing weirs were used to capture fresh water fish, such as eels and salmon, in most of the inland rivers. Indeed, in the Crown Commission’s inquisition of 1609 it recorded that a fishing weir for eels, named Corry McGinty, was located ‘a quarter of a mile upstream of Ballyshannon Bridge’ (Went 1945, 217). Ó Gallachair (1961, 28) suggested that this name is a modern corruption of the ‘Cora (eel-weir) of McGockquin, the surname of the old erenagh sept here’, and Donnelly (2015, 40) is of the view that this is the same weir as the one marked on the 1834 first edition Ordnance Survey sixinch map sheet, immediately to the north of the location of the burial ground at Ballyhanna on the southern bank of the river (see Fig 1.3). Furthermore, in a map drawn on 10 October 1593 (British Library Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.38) showing the Battle of the Erne Fords, at Belleek near Ballyshannon, the English solider and cartographer John Thomas has depicted a fishing weir near the castle at Belleek. He also drew large salmon in the River Erne, highlighting the importance of fishing in this river (Fig. 2.5). It is of interest to note that two salmon bones were discovered from secure late medieval contexts within the excavated tower house at Parke’s Castle, Co. Leitrim, thereby indicating that the fish was certainly being consumed at this medieval Gaelic site (Donnelly and Foley 2012, 129). The 1609 inquisition also informs us that the McGockquin erenagh possessed ‘the moytie of a salmon leepe called O’Skullion’. Ó Gallachair (1961, 28) has suggested that O’Skullion was a seventeenth-century anglicization of the Irish place name, Eas Chaitlín – the falls known in modern times as Cathleen’s Falls (Donnelly 2015, 40).

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 32

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 33

History and archaeology

33

Pollen studies of medieval landscapes in the north of Ireland suggest substantial regional diversity in the composition of the landscape. Samples from Co. Antrim indicate the existence of large open bog lands alongside the occurrence of mixed cereal agriculture in areas which were lightly wooded and better drained. In contrast samples from north-west Armagh are suggestive of a wooded landscape, while the pollen profile from County Tyrone was characteristic of a scrubby landscape which may have been suitable for the grazing of livestock (Hall and Bunting 2001, 220). In contrast to the situation for pastoral farming, however, limited documentary evidence is available concerning arable farming in medieval Gaelic Ireland. O’Dowd (1986, 130) notes that the inclusion of wheat, rye, barley, oats and flax as rents-in-kind paid to overlords is certainly indicative that ‘a good deal of cultivation [was] taking place in Gaelic Ireland’. Similarly, the Ceart Uí Neill documents the tributes and entitlements which were owed to the Ó Neill lineage by their sub-lords: ‘twenty wholemeal loaves in the spring from each half quarter (of land), and a meadar of butter with each loaf: and four pecks of malt in the spring, or a barrel from each half quarter, and a meadar of butter per week’ (Ó Diobhlin 1998, 60). Furthermore, detailed maps, such as those produced by the English cartographer Richard Bartlett in c.1602, illustrate the cultivation of crops in the Gaelic territories of Ulster. However, Andrews (2001, 176), has highlighted that that over 200 houses are depicted in these maps during the latter stages of the Nine Years War but only one corn-field is drawn (Fig. 2.6). This situation may have been due to the fact that the maps were drawn during the final conquest of Gaelic Ulster and we know that the Tudor English army deliberately targeted crops for destruction in order to create famine conditions (see Edwards 2010, 74–7). Andrews (2001, 176) makes the point that cereals must have been grown, however, to provide the thatch for the roofs of the many houses depicted in the maps. Moreover the fact that the English adopted a deliberate practice of destroying crops to create food shortages is suggestive that the general population must have relied quite heavily upon such crops for sustenance. Historical documents suggest that the main crop grown, and available to the vast majority of the lower classes, was oats, which could be eaten as a sticky porridge, as oaten bread, baked into cakes, and used in soups and stews (Nicholls 2003, 133; Moore 2007, 61). Ale produced by the Irish was generally made from oat-malt as opposed to barley-malt (Nicholls 2003, 133). Wheat appears to have been the main crop cultivated in the Pale but, in Gaelic areas, it was grown in small quantities and was used only as a food render for overlords (Nicholls 2003, 133; Murphy and Potterton 2010, 303–5). Sites and objects associated with grain processing are also known from Gaelic medieval Ireland. The Crown Inquisition of 1609 stated that the Ballyhanna erenagh managed a mill on the ‘Brook of Bellashanny’. Donnelly (2015, 40) proposes 2.6 (across) Bartlett map of 1602 showing Inishloughan Fort (© National Library of Ireland, MS 2656, vi). Note the lone corn field depicted beneath the fort.

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 34

34

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

that this is referring to a mill which is marked in the 1654 Down Survey map on a steam now known as The Tobies. In addition, parts of four quern stones from rotary querns were recovered from late medieval contexts at Parke’s Castle and were presumably used in the preparation of oatmeal by the Ó Ruairc household within the castle (Donnelly and Foley 2012, 129). Insights concerning the diet of the native Irish can also be found in the documentary accounts of contemporary visitors, although a degree of caution needs to be adopted given that these are the observations of single travellers who may not always have been accurate in their descriptions. In 1397 during his pilgrimage from Avignon to Saint Patrick’s Purgatory at Lough Derg, Co. Donegal, Viscount Ramon de Perellós met the Ó Neill and recounted that: … he sent me a present of food, in the form of ox-meat, for they do not eat bread, nor do they drink wine, for in that country there is none. However, the great lords drink milk as a sign of their nobility and some drink meat-broth. The common people eat meat and drink water (Haren and de Pontfarcy 1988, 103). As a guest of the Ó Neill over the Christmas season, de Perellós recalled: The king had then three thousand horses or more. There was a great number of poor people following him and I saw the king giving them great alms [in the form] of ox-meat … They do not sow corn nor have they any wine. Their only meat is ox-meat. The great lords drink milk and the others meat broth, and the common people drink water, as I said before. But they have plenty of butter, for oxen and cows provide all their meat (Haren and de Pontfarcy 1988, 110–11). The text continues to describe two cakes that were given to him as a gift by the Ó Neill which were ‘as thin as wafers and as pliable as raw dough. They were made of oats and of earth and they were black as coal, but very tasty’ (Haren and de Pontfarcy 1988, 111). It is important to be cautious in our interpretations of these accounts, however, and the lack of bread noted by de Perellós may not have been reflective of normal fare as de Perellós visited Tír Eoghain in a year when the annals inform us there was a famine. As such, his statement should be considered alongside that of Francisco de Cuéllar’s account of 200 years later when he noted that the Gaelic Irish: eat but one meal a day, and that at night, and their ordinary food is oaten bread and butter. They drink sour milk, as they have no other beverage, but no water, although it is the best in the world. On holidays they eat meat, half cooked, without bread or salt (Sedgwick 1896, 69).

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 35

History and archaeology

35

The hierarchical structure of medieval Gaelic society undoubtedly meant that the upper classes would have had access to a greater variety of food types and better quality food than those in the lower echelons of society. The people buried at Ballyhanna are likely to have been from the tenant and laboring levels of society and, as such, it is unlikely they would have had access to the diversity of foods enjoyed by the ruling elite. The rural nature of Gaelic society is reflected in their economy which was based predominantly on the natural resources available to them. Export lists provide insights concerning the small industries that were prevalent in Gaelic society, including leatherworking; tanning; spinning of yarn, wool and linen production; weaving; wood- and metalworking. Fishing was of particular importance on the west coast of Ireland, with the main exports including herring, salmon, hake, cod, ling, eels, oysters and dried fish. The ports in Tír Conaill traded with ships from England, Scotland, France, Spain and occasionally Denmark (Mac Eiteagáin 1995, 206), and domestic trade was conducted with port towns such as Galway and Drogheda. It is clear that in coastal communities some of the lords, such as the Ó Domnaill, were directly involved in the facilitation of foreign fishing off the west coast of Ireland where plentiful supplies of herring, cod, ling and hake were to be found. The Ó Domnaill lineage has been described as a maritime lordship, who were largely dependent upon the fisheries of the coast and the inland rivers for wealth and trade. They would have taxed foreign vessels for the rights to fish in the waters, as well as make use of the harbour, drying grounds and nets (Nicholls 2003, 145, Mac Eiteagáin 1995, 207). Donnelly (2015, 37) has highlighted how the herring fishing industry became concentrated in the seas off Donegal during the sixteenth century. He also notes how a Tudor English official claimed in 1561 that Maghnus Ó Domnaill was the ‘best lord of fish in Ireland and he exchangeth fish always with foreign merchants for wine, by which [he] is called in other countries, the king of fish’. In addition to fish, hides, tallow, wax, honey, timber, pipe staves, Irish friezes, linen, wool, clothes, rugs, coverlets, mantels and fur were also exported, while imports included wine, cloth, salt, iron, gunpowder, weapons and arms (Lough 1916, 724). During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, ‘a cheap, low quality wine became more readily available in Gaelic areas as Spanish and English merchants developed a pattern of trade in which wine, beer and bales of cloth were exchanged for salt meat, hides and fish’ (Simms 1978, 87). THE END OF THE SITE

The radiocarbon dating evidence suggests that Ballyhanna probably ceased to be used as a burial ground sometime during the first decades of the seventeenth century (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 58) and it is to this period

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 36

36

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

that we need to return to understand why the church and burial ground went out of use. Following the end of the Nine Years War (1594–1603), the major Gaelic lords and their immediate families and supporters escaped to the Continent in 1607. At this time, the Ó Domnaill castle and much of the lands surrounding Ballyshannon, including the salmon and eel fisheries, were granted to an English soldier Sir Henry Ffolliott who in 1620 became the first Baron of Ballyshannon (Begley 2009, 85; MacDonagh 2015, 8; Donnelly 2015, 43). Ffolliott dissolved Assaroe Abbey in a deed dated to the 20 May 1608, although the monks remained active in the area as a dispersed community (Donnelly 2015, 43). Thomas Ffolliott succeeded his father and was given a grant in 1646 so that the castle at Ballyshannon could be refortified. The lands then passed to his son Henry Ffolliott, who died in 1716 without surviving issue and the peerage title became extinct (Begley 2009, 86–7; MacDonagh 2015, 9). MacDonagh (2015, 7–10) has reconstructed the sequence of events that may have led up to the demise of the church and graveyard at Ballyhanna. Throughout the medieval period Ballyhanna had been part of the parish of Enismcsainte (Inishmacsaint) in the Roman Catholic diocese of Clogher. Following King Henry VIII’s break with Rome, the Bishop of Clogher, Hugh O’Carolan, renounced his papal appointment in 1542 and was reappointed as Bishop of Clogher in the Church of Ireland. This nominally changed the diocese from Roman Catholic to Church of Ireland, but it is unlikely that a Protestant Bishop of Clogher had any genuine power in Gaelic Ulster until the aftermath of the Nine Years War, and the old Catholic system of church administration continued intact into the first decade of the seventeenth century. In 1605, George Montgomery was appointed Protestant Bishop of Clogher and was tasked with surveying all of the church lands of Ulster in order that he might make recommendations to the Crown as to how the Protestant Church could become established in Ireland. One of his key recommendations to James I was the transfer of all existing church lands to the bishops of the Church of Ireland (MacDonagh 2015, 8). In the mid-seventeenth century the lands at Ballyhanna remained in the ownership of the Protestant Bishop of Clogher and the Civil Survey of 1654 record that the lands at ‘Ballihanna’ in the parish of ‘Enismcsainte’, were leased to ‘Martin Arstall Scottish Prottestantt’ and comprised 58 acres, ‘with a small Sallmon ffishing belonging to itt’ (Simington 1937, 66 as quoted in Donnelly 2015, 43). It is not clear whether any trace of the church and burials survived by the mid-seventeenth century; the archaeological evidence obtained during the excavation and radiocarbon dating indicates that the burial ground had gone out of use after the first two decades of the seventeenth century. Certainly no church is depicted on the mid-seventeenth century Down Survey barony map, which may suggest the building had been demolished by that

02 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:18 Page 37

History and archaeology

37

time, although the boundaries of ‘Ballihanna’ are clearly denoted. Donnelly (2015, 44) makes the observation that the Cromwellian cartographers may have made a conscious decision that it was not worth marking the presence of the church on the map if it was in a ruined condition. We do not know for certain whether the church was deliberately levelled, but it seems likely that it was – the deliberate destruction of old churches and graveyards was not an uncommon occurrence in early modern Ireland (Stanley 2015, 11). It seems equally feasible that the bishop’s new tenants on the land had stopped all burial practice among the local population in the early decades of the seventeenth century, and that the graveyard was then returned to agricultural land. Rubble from the abandoned church may have also been re-used in the construction of the new estate of Rockville House where certain architectural features are thought to have possibly derived from an earlier structure (MacDonagh 2015, 11). In 1718, William Conolly, allegedly the richest man in early eighteenthcentury Ireland and a native of Ballyshannon who became Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, purchased the Ffolliott estate for a sum of £52,000 (Begley 2009, 99; MacDonagh 2015, 9). It is unclear whether the Ffolliotts had purchased Ballyhanna from the Bishop of Clogher prior to 1718 or whether it was subsequently purchased by Conolly after 1718 as a separate transaction, but the Griffith Valuation of c.1860 states that the landlord of plot 3A (which contained the Ballyhanna church and graveyard) was Thomas Conolly and that the site was under the lease to Mary O’Neill, widow of Captain Charles O’Neill of Rockville House (Donnelly 2015, 45). Interestingly, William Connolly’s ancestry may have influenced his interest in the land at Ballyhanna since his mother Jane was a member of the Coan family in Ballyshannon – one of the anglicized Gaelic surnames Father Ó Gallachair associated with the McGockquin lineage. Whether by chance or design William had now taken possession of the ancestral lands of his mother’s family (Donnelly 2015, 45).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 38

3. Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna ‘M’anam do sgar riomsa a-raoir, calann ghlan dob ionnsa i n-uaigh; rugadh bruinne maordha mín is aonbhla lín uime uainn’. ‘My soul parted from me last night; a pure body that was dear is in the grave; a gentle stately bosom has been taken from me with one linen shroud about it’. ‘The Dead Wife’, verse 1 – poem attributed to Muireadhach Albanach (Bergin 1970, 101, 257)

I N T RO D U C T I O N

In this chapter we will examine the nature of the burial afforded to the 1296 people interred at Ballyhanna. A detailed account of the excavation findings for the site has already been published by Macdonald and Carver (2015) and this chapter will only focus on the attributes of the burials that can provide us with insights concerning society’s treatment of the dead. We will review the funerary rituals that were afforded to the dead at Ballyhanna, and consider aspects such as the wrapping of the body and the orientation in which they were laid. A small number of individuals appear to have been given burial treatments that deviated from the norm and we will take a closer look at these individuals to see if it is possible to explain why they were accorded what might be considered to be non-normative or atypical burials. The graveyard at Ballyhanna would have been in use as a burial ground before permanent individual or family grave memorials became the norm – these appear to have been first introduced to Ireland in those areas which had been planted with Scottish settlers in the seventeenth century (McCormick 2007, 355). During the medieval period rough stones or wooden markers may have been used to mark the location of individual specific graves, but there is very little evidence of enduring grave memorials (Dinn 1995, 247; Tait 2002, 63). It is possible that relatives may have been generally unconcerned about the precise location of the bodies of their dead family members and were content for them to be buried within a communal area of consecrated ground under the protection of the Church. The medieval community may have been more concerned about the well-being of the soul rather than care of the physical remains of the corpse (Ariés 1985, 23). No evidence was found to suggest that individual graves at Ballyhanna were marked, although the caveat needs to be

38

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 39

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

39

3.1 Grave slab depicting two cadavers wrapped in shrouds, with tied tops and bottoms, from St Peter’s Churchyard, Drogheda, Co. Louth (© National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 40

40

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

added that the medieval church and graveyard could well have been razed to the ground and landscaped during the seventeenth century and, therefore, any surface grave markers may have been moved at this time (see Murphy et al. 2014, 127). The archaeological evidence indicates that the vast majority of individuals interred at Ballyhanna were laid to rest in simple earthen shallow graves. It is likely that burial practices and customs changed, however, over the many centuries during which Ballyhanna was used as a graveyard. Carpentry nails and worked iron found with some of the skeletons may provide tentative evidence to suggest that a very small minority of individuals may have been laid to rest in coffins, but there was no definitive archaeological evidence to support this (see below). W R A P P I N G S , C L O T H I N G A N D G R AV E G O O D S

Wrappings and clothing The nature of the evidence recovered from Ballyhanna makes it difficult to determine with certainty whether the majority of the bodies were buried wrapped in a shroud or in a clothed state (see Macdonald and Carver 2015, 73). No definite items of clothing, such as buttons or belt buckles, were recovered in direct association with individual skeletons, although it is possible that many items of medieval clothing would have been tied or laced. The most common dress worn in medieval Ireland was an outer woollen cloak known as the mantle. Mantles were worn by all members of the community, men, women and children alike. Wealthier individuals would have worn mantles over finer clothes underneath. During the fourteenth century, upper-class males would have commonly dressed in a mantle, hood, breeches and a pair of shoes, while wealthier contemporary females would have worn gowns, fitted at the bodice and sleeves, with full skirts (Dunlevy 1989, 32, 38). Among the poorest members of society a mantle, made of loosely woven, coarse and undyed fleece, may have been the only item of clothing (Dunlevy 1989, 40). Historical sources provide information about the daily dress of Irish medieval society, but very few contemporary sources provide details on the burial attire of medieval Irish laypeople. Leigh Fry (1999, 124–6) suggested that the most common practice in medieval Ireland was to wrap the corpse in a shroud and place it directly into a grave. Gilchrist and Sloan (2005, 83) observed that only 2–3% of medieval graves in England contain archaeological evidence, such as buckles and strap fittings, for dressing the deceased. Hadley (2001, 74) is of the view that lay people were more commonly buried naked within a linen shroud rather than clothed. The use of the shroud seems to have had its origins in the Bible and, with its similarity to baptismal robes, it may have been symbolic of the faith of the deceased. Indeed, the English Augustinian canon John Mirk

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 41

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

41

3.2 Composite image showing examples of the variation of body position in juvenile burials at Ballyhanna. a. The compressed nature of the lateral aspects of SK 196, a 1–2 year-old child, tend to suggest that the individual had been wrapped in a shroud. b. The loose positioning of the limbs of SK 352, also a 1–2 year-old child, may indicate that the individual had not been wrapped prior to burial. c. SK 559, a 4–6 year-old child, displays some bilateral compression of the upper body but the legs are flexed to the left and it seems unlikely that an individual would have been placed within a shroud in this position (Photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

indicated in The Festial (a late fourteenth-century collection of sermons) that the white shroud signified that the deceased individual was ‘clene schryvon, and clansud of hys synnus be contricion of herte [clean shriven and cleansed of his sins by contrition of heart]’ (Erbe 1905, 294). Artistic depictions and contemporary sources from England also indicate that individuals would have been wrapped, tied or sewn into a shroud before having been placed into the grave cut (Daniell 1997, 43). Although from areas of Anglo-Norman influence – and therefore not directly comparable with Ballyhanna – early sixteenthcentury grave slabs from sites including St Peter’s Churchyard in Drogheda and St Brigid’s Churchyard in the grounds of Beaulieu (Bewley) House, Co. Louth, clearly depict individuals placed within fairly voluminous shrouds that had either been tied or knotted at their heads and feet (Roe 1969; Tait 2002, 32) (Fig. 3.1). Bilateral compression of the shoulders and arms, a characteristic of tight wrapping, was noted for some individuals but others had less compressed arms and legs and it is probable that a variety of styles of wrappings were applied to the dead interred at Ballyhanna (Fig. 3.2). Contemporary English and seventeenth-century Irish sources suggest that

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 42

42

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

women were generally responsible for dressing the corpse (see Daniell 1997, 43; Tait 2002, 31) and presumably it was they who made the decision about the manner in which a shroud was positioned on a body. Three pins manufactured from a finely-drawn copper alloy wire were recovered in association with a neonate (44 lunar weeks), SK 100. Two of the pins were retrieved from either side of the cranium, while the third was positioned under its posterior aspect. The excavator suggested the pins may have been used as fixings for a headdress but it is equally plausible that they had been used for pinning shroud material around the head. Previous researchers have taken the view that shroud pins were probably used as temporary ties during the process of stitching the shrouds. As such, shroud pins recovered during excavations should perhaps be regarded as accidental losses as opposed to a deliberate component of the burial rite (Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 110). Alternatively, Litten’s (1991, 61) account of the funerary clothes of fifteenth-century English children might be informative. During baptism the baby’s head was anointed with chrisom oil – a mixture of olive oil and balsam. To prevent the chrisom from rubbing off a white chrisom cloth was wrapped around the head of the newly baptized infant. It has been suggested that if a baby died in the interval between baptism and the churching of the mother, which typically occurred approximately one month after the delivery, the baby may have been buried in the chrisom cloth, although there is some debate about the interpretation of this practice (see Oosterwijk 2007). It has been suggested that the burial of an infant in its chrisom cloth would have been considered appropriate as evidence they had been baptized. Furthermore, it may have been believed that the blessed nature of the cloth afforded the infant with a degree of protection and helped to ensure they made it into Heaven (Oosterwijk 2007, 339). Given the very young age of SK 100 it would seem possible that the three pins associated with his/her head may have been related to the attachment of a chrisom band. A small number of potential dress accessories were retrieved during the excavations but, unfortunately, these could not be attributed to specific individuals. They comprised a copper alloy stick pin from an estuarine or riverine context; a possible fragment of a very poorly preserved copper alloy pin and an iron dress pin (Johnson 2015, 6–8). A possible iron annular brooch, or ring brooch frame, was found but its precise position was not recorded so it is difficult to be certain about whether or not it was associated with a particular skeleton. A copper-alloy button back was also recovered, but from a nonarchaeological context, and was considered to date to the nineteenth or twentieth centuries, long after burial had ended at Ballyhanna (Johnson 2015, 6). Artefacts A small number of artefacts were recovered during the excavations at Ballyhanna but, as was the case with the potential dress accessories, in the

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 43

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

43

3.3 a. Excavation photograph of SK 505, a middle-aged female, showing the location of a silver hammered penny at her left knee. b. Excavation photograph of SK 932, a middle-aged female, showing the location of a silver hammered penny among her right ribs (Photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

majority of cases these were not directly associated with particular burials or were considered to be accidental inclusions. A review of apparently everyday mundane objects, including pottery sherds, fragments of metal slag, nails and fragments of metal objects, associated with seven juveniles at Ballyhanna, however, identified a spatial patterning that mirrored that of more definitive grave goods and quartz (see below). It was suggested that such items may have been added to the burial of a child by other children, who viewed the objects as somehow special, or by women as sympathetic charms to extend protection afforded by folk magic in the home to the burial sphere (Murphy 2017, 240–2). The section below discusses particularly significant artefacts that were clearly associated with individuals. Coins The excavations produced four hammered silver pennies, two of which were recovered from the general graveyard soil while two appear to have been associated with particular individuals. All four coins were of the same general style, introduced by Edward I in 1279 and two displayed evidence of having

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 44

44

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

been clipped around their edges (Johnson 2015, 2–5). One of the coins was found lying by the knee of a middle-aged female, SK 505, who had been buried in an extended supine position with the head to the west. The second coin found in situ was retrieved from among the right ribs of SK 932, who was also a middle-aged female, but who had been buried in a rather awkward prone position with the head to the east (Fig. 3.3). Collectively, the coins ranged in date from the final quarter of the thirteenth century to the first quarter of the fifteenth century, but it is possible they could have remained in circulation for several decades prior to their deposition or loss (Johnson 2015, 2). While some contemporary accounts suggest that the church frowned upon the practice of deliberately including coins with a burial because of its apparent pagan origins (see Daniell 1997, 150), they have been found associated with a variety of medieval burials in Britain. Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 101) identified that single silver coins were most common and they suggested the practice could be related to the ‘Mass Penny’ that was given to the priest during celebrations of anniversaries for the dead. The deceased was symbolically continuing to make acts of homage to God for the benefit of his or her soul. Indeed, at least one of the interments within Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry, which had probably occurred when the church was still in use, appeared to have been buried with an Edward I silver penny (1279–1307) in his right hand (Moore 2007, 87). The situation at Ballyhanna is less clear; the position of the coins may indicate that they were accidently included within the two burials. It needs to be considered that these two individuals may have been buried clothed with the coins stored within the clothing. The placement of one of the coins by the knee may suggest that it had been sewn into a hem of a tunic or mantle, while the coin found among the ribs of the second individual could easily have been concealed in a hem or pouch. Beads One fragmentary and 14 complete glass beads were recovered from the neck region of SK 495, a middle-aged female, dated to AD 1499–1791 (UBA– 14990). It is likely that the beads are paternoster or rosary beads that were deliberately interred with the woman. This individual was also associated with a fragment of white quartz which was recovered from her pelvic region (see below). In addition, a further four beads made of potash glass were retrieved from an additional three graves. A single bead was recovered near the left side of the pelvis of SK 634, a young adult female. The woman had been laid to rest in a supine position, with the head in the west. Unfortunately, the skeleton was only partially complete as it had been truncated by a later burial. A second bead was recovered from soil adjacent to the left side of the head of SK 994, a younger child (1.5–3.5 years). This individual was orientated approximately north-south, with the head to the north and the legs semi-flexed to the left.

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 45

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

45

The last two beads came from the grave of SK 1074, an older child (6–15 years), whose was also orientated north-south, with the head to the north, while the body was extended and supine. One of the beads was positioned to the right of the pelvis, while the other was located in the vicinity of the head. Three of the beads were complete, while the fourth was fragmentary. Two of the complete beads and the fragmentary bead were fluted with vertical ribbing, while the fourth was a plain globular bead (Riddler 2015, 1–3). Paternoster or rosary beads were used by men and women of all ages in medieval society to count the repetitions of prayers during private meditations (Gilchrist 2012, 157–8). It has been suggested by Lightbown (1997, 520) that the paternosters used by men were short in length, sometimes consisting of only a few beads, while those of women were longer in length. Gilchrist (2012, 214) has recorded that single beads were sometimes used in the graves of children in medieval England to protect against the evil eye. As discussed above in relation to apparently mundane objects, it is possible beads may have been placed within these graves as ‘gifts’, perhaps from children, or as charms to provide protection for the dead (see Murphy 2017, 240–2). Scallop shell SK 1175, a middle-aged female, had a scallop shell placed over her right breast, while a fragment of white quartz was also recovered from her left hand (see below). Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 96) have suggested that most medieval people would have attempted at least one pilgrimage during their lifetime. When they reached their destination they would have purchased a small token, representing the saint, as proof that they had achieved their objective. Scallop shells are considered to be the emblem of Saint James the Apostle who is believed to have been buried at Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. Saint James was considered to be a great intercessor for the dead and both he, and the scallop shell, became symbols of salvation of the soul and of pilgrimage (White Marshall and Walsh 1998, 95). The twelfth-century Liber Sancti Jacobi reports that natural scallop shells, which would have been at the lower end of the market in religious souvenirs, were sold in great quantities at the booths near the cathedral at Compostela (Stalley 1988, 410; Clyne 1990, 21). Throughout the medieval period pilgrims of all walks of life would have travelled to Compostela as penitents, to give thanks or to seek miraculous cures. The AFM and the Annals of Lough Cé record how prominent Fermanagh nobles, including Hugh (the Hospitable) Maguire and Thomas Óg Maguire made pilgrimages to Compostela in the fifteenth century (O’Donovan 1856, iv, 873; Stalley 1988, 404). A scallop shell was discovered on the left hip of a middle-aged man of thirteenth-century date from St Mary’s Cathedral in Tuam, Co. Galway, and the recovery of both valves of another scallop shell from a disturbed context in the burial ground was considered to be suggestive

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 46

46

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

of the presence of a second pilgrim (Clyne 1990, 21). A fifteenth-century pilgrim’s badge, in the shape of a scallop shell and bearing the gilded figure of Saint James of Compostela, was recovered from a stone lined grave in the nave area of Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry. This type of badge represents a more sophisticated, later development of the natural scallop shell souvenir (Moore 2007, 102–7). It is possible the Ballyhanna woman had also undertaken a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James of Compostela and that she wore the scallop shell as a sign of this accomplishment and also, perhaps, because of a belief in the apotropaic properties of the shell. The scallop may have been attached like a badge to a garment on her right breast or it may have been suspended from a string tied around her neck. It has been suggested that scallop shells may have been worn as amulets to protect the wearer against ill wishes from strangers, or the envious glances of those who had not been fortunate enough to visit the shrine themselves (Hildburgh 1942, 185). An alternative explanation may be that the scallop shell had been brought back by a pilgrim as a gift for the woman. Interestingly, the woman’s head was located to the east, rather than to the west, as is normal for Christian burials. A number of defects were apparent in her skeleton including bilateral spondylolysis in the fifth lumbar vertebra and an additional sixth lumbar vertebra (LV6) which was incorporated into the sacrum as a result of cranial shifting in this location. It is possible that she may have suffered from lower back pain throughout her life and perhaps she or a loved one made the arduous journey to Compostela in search of a cure or relief from pain. Flint A broken concave-based flint arrowhead was lying on the left hand bones of SK 1056, a young adult female, who was buried in an extended supine position with the head to the west (Fig. 3.4). The arrowhead, which probably dates to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, had been made from honey-coloured flint, and its tip and one of the basal tangs were broken. The position of the arrowhead, lying on the woman’s left hand, would tend to suggest that it had been deliberately buried with her. As discussed previously, it is possible that this object was a treasured possession of the woman or, indeed, of the family members who may have buried her. In medieval England, prehistoric artefacts were often treasured as magical objects and Gilchrist (2012, 247) suggests that the artefacts were valued not for their temporal association but rather for their connection to the occult power of nature. Belief in the magical and amuletic properties of stones was widespread among the learned classes. Indeed, in the eleventh century, Bishop Marbodus of Rennes wrote a Latin treatise, Liber Lapidum, on the virtues of different stone types which was translated into Irish in the fourteenth century

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 47

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

47

3.4 a. Excavation photo of SK 1056, a young adult female, with a flint arrowhead lying in the vicinity of where the left hand bones would have been expected if they had been preserved. b. Detail of the arrowhead (Photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd and Jonathan Hession, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

(Lightbown 1997, 518). In England during the medieval period flint arrowheads were believed to be ‘elf-bolts’ or fairy weapons, and were used as amulets to provide protection against attacks from supernatural beings (Merrifield 1987, 16). A flint flake and various pieces of debitage were also recovered from the general graveyard soil but it has not been possible to ascertain whether these were associated with burials or were simply accidental inclusions. Metal A relatively substantial but incomplete iron whittle-tanged knife, 141 mm in length, was found with adolescent SK 652. It lay alongside the right side of the

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 48

48

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

3.5 SK 993A, a middle-aged male, with a piece of quartz clearly associated with the right hand bones (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

individual’s waist and it is possible it had been worn on a belt (Johnson 2015, 10; Murphy 2017, fig. 15.4). A more unusual association between an individual and an artefact was afforded through the discovery of an iron arrowhead in the rib cage of SK 208, a young adult male, during post-excavation processing. The arrowhead may have entered the body during a fatal attack, although there is no osteological evidence to support this. It is also possible that it had been deliberately placed in the burial or was an accidental loss (see Chapter 15). The arrowhead was identified as being of an Anglo-Norman type and of late twelfth- or thirteenth-century date (Johnson 2015, 8). Quartz A possible early medieval ‘quadrangular’ reliquary shrine, which contained 76 pieces of quartz, as well as unworked rock crystal and six-beach rolled pebbles, was identified during the excavations at Ballyhanna (see Chapter 1). A later medieval funerary practice which occurred in the burial ground was the inclusion of quartz stones with some of the interments. It seems likely that the presence of the shrine at Ballyhanna was related to this funerary practice. This assertion is supported by the apparent respect of the reliquary shrine by all of the later burials – despite their density – which would tend to suggest that it may have continued to be venerated throughout the medieval period (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 84).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 49

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

49

Table 3.1 Details of individuals buried with quartz. SK no.

Sex

Age

Middle adult Middle adult

Location of quartz Adults Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region in the vicinity of the hands. Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region in the vicinity of the hands (NB – 15 beads recovered from the region of the neck). Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region in the vicinity of the hands. Single piece of quartz in the pelvic area, although the hands were recorded as lying by the sides of the body.

SK 74

Female

SK 495

Female

Middle adult Middle adult

SK 702

Female

SK 744

Female

SK 780

Male

Middle adult

Single piece of quartz in the pelvic area and several pieces of quartz positioned around the neck.

SK 792

Female

SK 811 SK 935

Female Female

Middle adult Young adult Middle adult Middle adult Young adult Young adult

SK 993A

Male

SK 1027 SK 1050

Female Male

SK 1060 SK 1095 SK 1175

Indeterminate Adult Female Young adult Female Middle adult SK 1201A Female Young adult SK 1211A Female Middle adult SK 1225 Male Middle adult SK 613 SK 770

– –

SK 796 SK 1029 SK 1052

– – –

SK 1076 SK 1117 SK 1195

Younger child Younger child Adolescent Younger child Adolescent

– Younger child – Older child Poss. female Adolescent

SK 1196

–

Neonate

SK 1240 SK 1243

– –

Younger child Older child

Four pieces of quartz, including one in the pelvic area, which may have been associated with the left hand. Single piece of quartz amongst the bones of both hands. Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region in the vicinity of the hands. Two pieces of quartz, one of which had been disturbed while the other was in the right hand. Single piece of quartz in the right hand. At least three pieces of quartz in association with finger bones suggesting they had originally been placed in hands. Two pieces of quartz in the left hand. Single piece of quartz associated with hand bones. Single piece of quartz in the left hand (NB – scallop shell on the right breast). Single piece of quartz in the left hand. Two pieces of quartz, at least one of which is in the left hand. Single piece of quartz in the left hand. Juveniles Two pieces of quartz beneath the skull. Single piece of quartz beneath the skull, while the other was to the left side of the skull. Single piece of quartz at the left shoulder. Single piece of quartz at the left side of the feet. Two pieces of quartz adjacent to the left side of the skull. Three pieces of quartz; location uncertain. Single piece of quartz; location uncertain. Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region in the vicinity of the hands. Single piece of quartz in the pelvic region adjacent to the right hand. Single piece of quartz at the left side of the head. Single piece of quartz at the left femur.

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 50

50

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

The excavation notes indicate that quartz stones were associated with 52 adult and juvenile burials at Ballyhanna. Given the frequent intercutting and disturbance of graves, however, it is likely that in some instances these associations are the result of residual deposition. Macdonald and Carver (2015, 83) identified 18 skeletons in which the association with the quartz stones was definite – the quartz was either placed in the hand of the skeleton or recovered from the pelvic region of skeletons where the hands had been placed over the pelvis (Fig. 3.5 and Table 3.1). Some 17 of the 18 burials were adult, with the youngest individual being, SK 1195, a 14–18 year-old possible female adolescent. Four of the individuals were adult males, SK 780, SK 993A, SK 1050 and SK 1225 (dated to AD 1284– 1390 [UBA–15985]). SK 1060 was an incomplete adult of indeterminate sex but a notable majority of affected individuals were adult females (Table 3.1). The majority of the adults of known age and sex with quartz were middle-aged adults – 66.7% of the females (8/12) and 75.o% (3/4) of the males. The results may indicate that middle-aged adults were preferentially selected for burial with quartz. Two of the adult females were radiocarbon dated – SK 495 dated to AD 1499–1791 (UBA–14990), while SK 1201A dated to AD 1460–1638 (UBA– 11451). All of these individuals were recovered from the eastern half of the excavated area and, in general terms, their burial rites were the same as those of the other excavated burials. Quartz stones were retrieved from both the left and right hands of the skeletons. In the majority of cases the deceased were associated with a single piece of quartz. However, one of the males (SK 780) had a single piece of quartz at his pelvis as well as several pieces of quartz around his neck, while another of the affected males (SK 1050) was described as having pieces of quartz placed around his body. Two of the 18 individuals with definite associations with quartz were also associated with other items of possible religious significance. SK 1175, a female, had a scallop shell placed over her right breast, while SK 495, a female, had a set of paternoster or rosary beads around her neck (see above). An examination of juvenile burial practice at Ballyhanna identified a further ten individuals who had been associated with quartz (see Table 3.1). This work indicated that quartz was also deliberately positioned at the head (Murphy 2017, 239, fig. 15.4). On the basis of stratigraphic and radiocarbon dating evidence Macdonald and Carver (2015, 83) considered the use of quartz as part of the burial rite at Ballyhanna to have lasted from at least the end of the fourteenth century until the beginning of the sixteenth century, although they concluded that it had probably had a longer vogue. Quartz stones and white pebbles are often associated with burials in Britain and Ireland and they seem to be used in one of two ways – to cover the top of the graves or as a talisman included in the grave. Both plain and polished stones were deliberately placed on the bodies of certain children in the burial ground of St Clemens in Copenhagen, Denmark, and were interpreted as

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 51

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

51

having been included for their perceived protective properties (Jark Jensen 2017, 207–8). The fact that only one or two pieces of quartz were generally retrieved from each grave would suggest the stones were being used for apotropaic purposes at Ballyhanna (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 83). Indeed, in medieval England quartz was one of the indigenous stones which was thought to carry the occult power of nature (Gilchrist 2012, 248). No official church statements exist concerning the liturgical use of white stones and this has been interpreted as an indication that their deposition was a spontaneous gesture based upon a popular local belief rather than an established religious rite. The association of the colour white in ecclesiastical literature as a symbol of purity, innocence and a holy life would lend support to this theory (White Marshall and Walsh 1998, 88–9). The use of quartz both on, and within, many early modern unconsecrated cillín burials throughout Ireland has been interpreted as an indication of the desire of the families who used these burial grounds to confer a religious dimension to the interments (see Murphy 2011, 420–1). This trend would support the assertion that the deposition of white stones within a burial was based on a popular belief which appears to have had considerable longevity within Ireland. Macdonald and Carver (2015, 84) noted that although it is tempting to equate a direct relationship between the reliquary shrine and the placing of quartz within certain burials at Ballyhanna this association is problematic. The style of the reliquary is suggestive of an early medieval provenance, while the placement of quartz within certain burials appears to be a later medieval practice. They note that this difference in dates should not necessarily negate a link between the two as the shrine appears to have been respected, if not actively venerated, throughout the life of the burial ground. They suggest that the medieval community that buried its dead at Ballyhanna may have believed that quartz stones, which had been placed as votive offerings within the reliquary shrine, would have become charged with the spiritual power of the venerated saint as a consequence of this direct contact. These powerful stones may then have been selected to accompany the bodies of particular individuals in the grave. The preponderance of association with adult females and children may suggest that the saint venerated at Ballyhanna could have had particular meaning for women. The burial of quartz with two women who were associated with other potentially religious items – SK 495 with the possible rosary beads and SK 1175 with the scallop – may also be an indication that some individuals buried with quartz were viewed as being particularly devout.

B O DY P O S I T I O N

The vast majority of the adult skeletons at Ballyhanna seem to have been laid to rest in accordance with Christian burial tradition – single interments in

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 52

52

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

3.6 SK 1005, a young adult female, interred in the normal Christian burial position, with the head in a westerly position, lying alongside SK 997, a middle-aged male, whose head lay to the east (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

shallow earthen graves in which the body was laid out in an extended and supine position, with the arms either positioned by the sides or lying over the pelvis. An early sixteenth-century grave slab from St Peter’s churchyard in Drogheda depicts both hand positions (see Tait 2002, 32; see Fig. 3.1). The legs were generally extended straight and the feet tended to meet, although in some cases one leg was found to cross over the other. The graves were largely orientated on a west-east axis and the individuals had mostly been placed into the graves with their heads lying at the western end of the grave cut (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 68). This burial position follows that recommended by the English Augustinian canon John Mirk in The Festial (a late fourteenth-century collection of sermons) where it is recommended that the body was laid with ‘hys hed leyde into þe west and hys feete into þe est, to ben þe more redy to sene Criste þat comyth oute of þe est to þe dome, and so ryson aȝeynus hym’ [his head laid into the west and his feet laid into the east, to be readier to see Christ come out of the East at the Doom, and so rise facing him] (Erbe 1905, 294). A relatively small number of burials deviated from this orientation and these will be discussed in the following sections. East–West Burials Macdonald and Carver (2015, 72) identified that some 4.3% (35 individuals) of the 810 skeletons, for whom orientation could be reliably identified, had a

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 53

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

53

3.7 Density plot of the number of burials per grid square (Prepared by Sapphire Mussen and based on the original site plan by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd).

reversed, east–west alignment in which their head was orientated to the east (Fig. 3.6). The 35 affected individuals (14 juveniles and 21 adults) ranged from 1–2 years to adult individuals, with both sexes buried in this position. Practically all of these reversed burials were located to the east of the church and radiocarbon dating suggested that the practice was a late medieval phenomenon which extended until at least the final quarter of the fifteenth century. It is worth noting, however, that the majority of the burials were excavated from the east of the church and so this pattern in the data may merely reflect the burial density in this section of the graveyard (Fig. 3.7). A review of reversed burials in medieval monastic cemeteries in Britain indicated that there was no clear pattern to this form of burial (Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 153). It is interesting to recall that SK 1175, the potential female pilgrim who was buried with a scallop shell and a piece of quartz (see above), had her head orientated in an easterly direction.

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 54

54

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

North–South and South–North Burials In previous studies, north–south and south–north burials have been found to only occur sporadically and they are often associated with mass burials – times when perhaps the need for making maximum use of the burial space was considered more important than the observation of normal burial customs (Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 153). Macdonald and Carver (2015, 72) reported that ten of the Ballyhanna skeletons were aligned south–north, with the heads positioned to the south, while seven had been interred in the opposite direction with the heads positioned to the north. As was the case with the reversed burials, the burials with a south–north and north–south alignment were all located to the east of the church, the area from which the majority of the burials were excavated. The spread of radiocarbon dates derived from these burials suggest that they were predominantly, if not exclusively, later medieval in date (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 73). The ten individuals (six juveniles and four adults) aligned south–north ranged in age from SK 122, a newborn infant, through to adults. All three of the adults of determinable sex orientated south–north were female (SK 432, SK 495 and SK 882), which is interesting and may be indicative that this was a sex-specific burial practice. Unfortunately, the very small number of individuals concerned makes it impossible to be definitive about this possible pattern. The seven skeletons orientated north–south comprised four juveniles, the youngest of whom were 1–2 years (SK 612) and 1.5–3.5 years (SK 994) and three adults. Both male (SK 606 and SK 799) and female (SK 677) skeletons were aligned north–south. The marked deviation from the normative west–east alignment required to orientate a body along a north–south/south–north axis would likely indicate that it was a deliberate choice. It would appear to be the case, however, that age was not a decisive factor in the selection of individuals for this manner of burial. All three of the adult females buried south–north were dated to the later medieval period – SK 432 dated to AD 1160–1254 (UBA– 14982); SK 495 dated to AD 1499–1791 (UBA–14990) and SK 882 was dated to AD 1488–1648 (UBA–11448). It is possible that the differing orientations in the burial ground were simply due to topographical features such as the presence of pathways through the graveyard, but since the graveyard appears to have been landscaped in the seventeenth century it is not possible to determine whether or not this was the case (Murphy et al. 2014, 127). When the skeletal remains are scrutinized it is interesting to note that two of the individuals who were accorded a south–north burial orientation had major palaeopathological lesions evident in their skeletons. SK 882, a middleaged female, displayed lesions associated with advanced tuberculosis, including marked anterior spinal curvature. She would clearly have been notably physically disfigured and debilitated during life (see Chapter 12). SK 146, a young adult of indeterminate sex, displayed a traumatic compression fracture

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 55

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

55

of his or her seventh thoracic vertebra which had resulted in fusion of the bodies of the seventh and eighth thoracic vertebrae. During the excavation it was noted that the neck was lying in a particularly awkward position although no skeletal abnormalities to account for this position could be found during the osteological examination. When we turn to the north-south orientated burials we also find two individuals with evidence of physical impairment or injury. SK 606, a middle-aged male, displayed a dramatic long-standing central fracture-dislocation of his left hip which would have caused his upper leg to have been permanently held in a flexed position at a right-angle to his torso. The gracile nature of the bones of both legs are indicative of disuse and it is probable that the man was largely immobile. He also displayed a fractured clavicle which had probably been attained as a result of a fall (see Chapter 13). SK 677, a middle-aged female, displayed a suite of lesions characteristic of osteoporosis including compression fractures of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth thoracic vertebrae which had resulted in anterior curvature of the spine (see Chapter 9). In addition to the vertebral fractures this middle-aged female also exhibited a fractured foot phalanx, osteochondritis dissecans of the knees and post-cranial joint disease. While no definitive trends are evident regarding physical impairment and a north-south/south-north orientation the dramatic nature of the physical deformities in SK 882 and SK 606 could hardly have gone unnoticed by their peers and it is tempting to suggest that these may partly explain the unusual orientation of their burials. It is possible that the five other individuals buried in a south-north orientation may have had physical impairments that are not visible in the archaeological record. The fact that many people with serious physical disabilities were afforded a normative burial along a west-east axis, however, suggests that even if physical impairment was a factor it was not the only variable involved when deciding to bury an individual in this manner. It is interesting to note that SK 495, one of the south-north burials, had been buried with a set of rosary beads around her neck and a piece of quartz (see above). This finding would tend to suggest that burials of this orientation were not necessarily being demarcated in a negative way. Prone burial Six of the adult burials had been laid to rest in prone position – two females (SK 932 and SK 1146) and four males (SK 179A, SK 484, SK 561 and SK 651) (Fig. 3.8). In addition, SK 341, a probable male adolescent with his head to the east, was also identified as a prone burial during a subsequent examination of the burial records (Murphy 2017, 235). Macdonald and Carver (2015, 79) reported that the prone burials were not clustered in any particular area of the burial ground. Three of the individuals were orientated west-east (SK 484, SK 561 and SK 1146), while three had their heads positioned to the east (SK 179A, SK 651 and SK 932). A coin was recovered from the right side

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 56

56

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

3.8 Plan of the various adult prone burials at Ballyhanna – SK 179A (a middle-aged male); SK 484 (a young adult male); SK 561 (a young adult male); SK 651 (a middle-aged male); SK 932 (a middle-aged female) and SK 1146 (a middle-aged female) (Prepared by Libby Mulqueeny based on photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 57

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

57

of the rib cage of SK 932 (see above). Traditionally, prone burials are often viewed as a disrespectful position in which to inter the dead and this position is thought to diminish or degrade the personal status of the corpse (e.g. Tsaliki 2008, 2–3). When dealing with the context of a Christian burial ground, however, the situation is less clear – prone individuals while being marked out as different in the manner of their burial were still deemed suitable for inclusion within the burial ground of the Christian community. On the basis of contemporary accounts, Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 154) suggest that some prone burials may have been penitential in nature to atone for the sins of either the deceased or their family. As discussed above it is probable that most of the deceased would have been wrapped in shrouds prior to burial and Macdonald and Carver (2015, 79) have suggested that some of the prone burials may have been accidentally placed in this position. This would certainly seem feasible for SK 651 and SK 1146 both of whom were clearly described as having their hands positioned in front of their pelvic bones. However, this scenario would have been unlikely for SK 484, a young adult male, who was buried with the left arm bent over his head (AD 1182–1379 [UBA–15982]). Macdonald and Carver (2015, 79) suggested that this individual may have died in a fire, as a result of hypothermia or have been buried in rigor mortis (see Knüsel et al. 1996 for discussion), but while these suggestions are feasible other options must also be considered. The position of the left arm and the other limbs would tend to suggest that the individual had not been wrapped and the body position is rather awkward, with the right arm lying beneath the torso and the left arm raised above the head, while the legs are largely extended but overlap one another. SK 179A was also buried in a rather awkward position with the pelvic area overlying a large stone. Although it is not possible to ascertain the position of the legs, the right arm appears to have been raised off the ground surface as a result of having been bent at the elbow. It is possible that the burials of these two individuals had been disturbed when the corpses were relatively fresh – this would certainly seem more feasible for SK 179A which is located in very close proximity to another individual. The plan of SK 932, a middle-aged female, suggests the legs were flexed at the knees but the remains of the upper body and head are very incomplete. It is possible the individual was disturbed as a result of the interment of SK 954 which was located at the same level but was in a much more complete condition. The pelvis and legs of SK 561 were clearly in a prone position but the upper body was very disturbed and it was not possible to ascertain the position of the arms or the head. The legs were very slightly flexed and met at the feet. The adolescent, SK 341, was the only individual to display notable signs of disease or injury and lesions compatible with the debilitating condition Scheuerman’s disease were evident in his skeleton (see Chapter 14).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 58

58

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

Flexed Burial Three adult females – SK 182, SK 543 and SK 524 – had been buried in a tightly flexed or crouched position. Interestingly, SK 182 and SK 543 both displayed lesions indicative of advanced tuberculosis, and SK 543 and SK 524 were located quite near to one another in the burial ground. SK 182 was a near-complete young adult female and dated to AD 1477–1635 (UBA–11441). She had been buried in a tightly crouched position, lying on her back with her knees tightly flexed and drawn up to the right side. The left arm was flexed across the body and rested above the hips, with the left hand lying over the chest. The right arm was extended alongside the body, and the right hand was positioned over the pelvis. The young woman displayed lesions associated with advanced tuberculosis, including lytic lesions in a number of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, as well as a lytic lesion on the left clavicle (see Chapter 12). A second individual, SK 543, a middle-aged female (dated to AD 1225–76 [UBA–14995]), was also buried in a crouched position and also displayed lesions indicative of advanced tuberculosis. This woman was buried in a tightly crouched position lying on her right side (Fig. 3.9). Although the individual faced south, the burial was orientated in the normal west-east alignment, with the head located at the west. The positioning of the body suggests that the woman had been very deliberately arranged in this manner. Her left arm was bent at the elbow and crossed over the body, where it met the elbow of her right arm which was tightly flexed. It looks as if the left arm has been positioned to support the right arm at the elbow. The right hand appears to have been carefully placed beneath the right side of the face – almost as if the person was asleep. The lesions apparent in her remains included lytic lesions in the lumbar vertebrae, which had caused the near complete destruction of the second lumbar vertebra, as well as new bone formation on a rib, the left femur and the pelvic bones (see Chapter 12). Both SK 543 and SK 182 may have displayed symptoms associated with tuberculosis which could have included back pain, stiffness, local tenderness and fever (Resnick 2002a, 2525). Chest symptoms may have included a persistent cough, general breathlessness and coughing up blood. Sufferers could display skin lesions, and suffer from general ill-health and emaciation, as well as fatigue, irritability, and loss of appetite (Marais et al. 2004, 399; Roberts and Manchester 2005, 192). These two women would both clearly have been very unwell. Indeed, it could perhaps be suggested that due to their health problems that lying in the flexed position had been most comfortable for these women when they was alive. Perhaps those who buried them were simply replicating this position in their graves. SK 524, a young female, appears to have been similarly buried in a crouched position although it was more difficult to establish the precise position of the body due to the incomplete nature of the skeleton (see Fig. 3.9).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 59

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

59

3.9 Two of the crouched burials at Ballyhanna – a. SK 543 is a middle-aged female, b. SK 524 is a young adult female (Photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

She was lying on her right side and both legs were drawn up so that the knees would have been positioned opposite the pelvis. The left arm was flexed at the elbow and the lower arm crossed over the body so that the hand appears to have been positioned at the right side of the abdomen. The right arm was absent, but the right hand was located opposite the lower leg bones, thereby suggesting the right arm had been extended alongside the body. The skull was also absent so it was not possible to know which way it had been facing. The body was orientated so that the head was located to the west. No major palaeopathological lesions were apparent in the remains of this individual. Very few medieval parallels for this form of burial can be found – Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 154) explain the occurrence of a substantial group of flexed individuals from Whithorn Cathedral Priory in Scotland as a reflection of a local burial tradition. SK 1209, a young male, displayed a very unusual form of flexed burial in which the legs had been dramatically bent at the knees so that the lower leg bones ran parallel to the posterior aspect of the thighs and the feet would have rested beneath the buttocks (Fig. 3.10). Both arms appear to have been flexed at the elbows so that the forearms were lying on the right side of the body. These were directed upwards so that the hands were positioned adjacent to the

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 60

60

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland 3.10 SK 1209, a young adult male, who displayed a very unusual form of flexed burial in which the legs had been dramatically bent at the knees so that the feet would have rested beneath the buttocks (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

skull. The manner of the body is almost one of an individual kneeling in prayer with the hands raised up in front of the face. Curiously, however, the face looks away from the hands although it is possible that the head has rolled this way during the process of decomposition. This would have necessitated the presence of organic remains, such as a pillow, having been adjacent to the head since it does not appear to have decomposed within an empty space. A fragment of quartz was located adjacent to the individual’s right hip and the burial was orientated west-east. No parallels can be found for this form of burial but the association of the individual with quartz and the deliberate positioning of the legs and arms as if in prayer would perhaps suggest that the

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 61

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

61

individual was either a penitent who was continuing to pray in death or someone who had been particularly devout in life and was buried in this poise as a symbol of his piety. Alternatively, it is possible that the body was in this position for practical reasons – perhaps he suffered from an illness such as spasticity which may have caused extreme flexion at the elbow and knee joints. However, no obvious lesions associated with such a condition were apparent in the skeleton. A second alternative practical explanation is that the individual was buried in this manner to avoid disturbing an adjacent burial with his lower legs, as the head of an extended, supine burial (SK 1212) was positioned near his left knee. This seems to be a rather improbable scenario, however, since the lower legs of SK 1209 could easily have been angled to avoid this burial. Neither individual was radiocarbon dated so their chronological relationship is uncertain. Macdonald and Carver (2015, 79) noted that 28 burials at Ballyhanna, which spanned the entire period of the graveyard’s use, were buried in the normal supine position but with slightly flexed legs. Some 15 of these supine flexed burials were of juveniles and it is possible there was a slight preference for burying children in this position. They suggested that in the majority of cases the legs of the deceased may have unintentionally been displaced into a slightly flexed position as the body was lowered into the grave. If the body was not tightly wrapped in its shroud it is entirely feasible that some displacement of the legs may have occurred during the burial. Murphy (2017, 233) reviewed the body position of the juveniles who were more than 25% complete and found that children less than one year of age were statistically more likely to be buried with flexed legs than older juveniles. Six burials, all located in relative close proximity to each other, were either laid on their right side (SK 55, SK 156, SK 376 and SK 348) or on their left side (SK 98 and SK 133), with their legs in a slightly flexed position. All of the burials were orientated in the normal west-east alignment. The burials consisted of three young children (1–6 years; SK 98, SK 156 and SK 376), a middle-aged female (SK 55), a middle-aged adult of indeterminate sex (SK 348) and an incomplete adult of indeterminate sex (SK 133). Radiocarbon dating and their stratigraphic position indicated that the burials were medieval in date. Macdonald and Carver (2015, 80) considered it unlikely that this burial position was due to unintentional movement during the burial process although they were uncertain as to its significance. Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 155–6) have noted that the burial of children on their sides is relatively common in medieval burial grounds and have suggested that it might have been used in an attempt to replicate the natural sleeping position. They note the rarity of adult burials in this position and make reference to an example of an adult male from Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland of fourteenth or fifteenth century date who is thought to have been positioned on his side

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 62

62

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

because he was physically impaired. With the possible exception of SK 55, who displayed a suite of lesions compatible with a diagnosis of osteoporosis (see Chapter 9), there was no evidence that any of the other individuals from Ballyhanna buried on their sides had suffered from physical disabilities. Of course, it needs to be remembered that not all conditions will be visible in the skeleton, and hence in the archaeological record, and our interpretations are limited to those disease processes that affect the skeleton in a notable way. A S S O C I AT I O N S O F T H E H E A D W I T H S T O N E S

The head appeared to have been afforded special treatment in four cases at Ballyhanna. One case of ear muff stones and one cist-like structure had been associated with individuals, while a further two individuals may have been associated with pillow stones. Surrounding stones Two of the Ballyhanna adults were considered to have been associated with head support stones (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 80). SK 1239B, a young male dated to AD 1158–1252 (UBA–14984), had clearly had two stones deliberately positioned at either side of his head in the classic ‘ear muff ’ position (Fig. 3.11). In the case of SK 972, an older adult of indeterminate sex, at least seven stones appear to have been deliberately positioned around the head. The exact position of the stones is difficult to determine since the burial has undergone some damage due to later grave cutting and the skull was not present for analysis. The number of stones present led Macdonald and Carver (2015, 80) to suggest that the head had been surrounded by a cist-like structure. Both individuals were orientated west-east, and were extended and supine. Neither individual displayed any notable palaeopathological lesions in their remains. Special treatment of the head, involving the use of both ear muffs and cistlike structures, is not uncommon in Irish medieval burials and examples are known from other burial grounds including those at Knockea, Co. Limerick (O’Kelly 1967, 77, pl. IV.i); Cove Street, Cork (Cleary 1996); Mount Offaly, Cabinteely, Co. Dublin (Conway 1999); St Mary’s of the Isle, Cork (Hurley and Sheehan 1995, 62); St Peter’s, Waterford (Hurley and McCutcheon 1997, 194–5) and Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry (Moore 2007, 85). The practice also seems to have been common in medieval England between the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, although examples are also known from as late as the sixteenth century (Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 138) and an early example from Ardfert, Cathedral, was radiocarbon dated to AD 884–990 (Moore 2007, 87). The reason for the use of ear muff stones is poorly understood but it has been suggested that they may have been employed to support the skull and to prevent movement to ensure that the deceased was positioned facing the Risen

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 63

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

63

3.11 SK 1239B, a young adult male, with two stones deliberately positioned at either side of his head in the classic ‘ear muff ’ position (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

Christ at the Last Judgment (Daniell 1997, 180–1). Ear muff stones have been found in both earthen graves and in coffined burials. On the basis of information contained within contemporary documents Macdonald and Carver (2015, 81) favoured the idea that special importance was placed on the skull since it was believed that, as long as it was preserved, the entire body could be physically resurrected at the Last Judgment. Pillow stones A different type of association of the head with stones was also evident at Ballyhanna where certainly one (and possibly two individuals), were associated with ‘pillow stones’. SK 1117, an older child of 9–12 years (dated to

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 64

64

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

AD 1447–1620 [UBA–11462]), had been buried with the head lying on top of a substantial, rectangular-shaped pillow stone. The body was orientated westeast and was in an extended, supine position. There was also some suggestion that SK 120, an 11–13 year-old adolescent, had been buried with a pillow stone but the skull had rolled off the stone by the time of excavation making it impossible to be certain about this scenario. The individual was orientated east-west, with the body extended and supine and the legs flexed to the left. The date of the individual was uncertain although its stratigraphic position above SK 197 indicated that it was later than AD 779–965 (UBA–11442) (Macdonald and Carver 2015, 81). Daniell (1997, 160) suggested that the use of pillow stones may have been a form of punishment, since the individual’s head may have felt uncomfortable and cold at its resurrection. He also noted, however, that since many of the English examples occur within churches there may be a degree of prestige attached to such burials. Drawing on the example of Henry II’s son, Prince Henry, who was purported to have been laid on a bed of sackcloth and ashes, with stones under his head and feet and a noose from a condemned prisoner around his neck, he also suggested that the inclusion of pillow stones may have been a sign of penitence. Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 147) suggest that the symbolism of the stone pillows relates to Jacob and his dream of the stairway to heaven in Genesis. Since both of the individuals at Ballyhanna with pillow stones were juveniles it would seem unlikely, although not impossible, that they were being punished in death or that they were penitents. If the suggestion that many juveniles had been buried on their sides with flexed legs to mimic the natural sleeping position is valid, then perhaps the inclusion of pillow stones is a variation of this concept (see above). The remains of soft, organic pillows have been recovered from a number of medieval burials in England (Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 147) but these require exceptional preservation conditions. Perhaps organic pillows were in use in the graves at Ballyhanna but are now invisible in the archaeological record. It is even possible that the head would originally have rested on organic matter which lay upon a stone pillow.

M U LT I P L E B U R I A L S

It was difficult to identify the few instances when two or more individuals had been placed within the same grave cut – since the grave cuts were rarely recognized it was not often possible to differentiate between the burials which had been buried close together and those that were actually double or triple interments. As such, only four probable cases of double or triple interments have been identified at Ballyhanna although this figure is likely to be a conservative estimate. A burial of a mother and twins may be an additional multiple interment but it is also possible that the infants had still been in utero

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 65

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

65

at the time of death. Two definite cases, and a further possible example, of death during pregnancy were also identified at Ballyhanna. Adults only The field excavation sheets identified two males (SK 289 and SK 290) as having being placed within the same grave cut at the same time. SK 289 was buried on his left side in an extended position with his head positioned towards the west and his feet to the east. His skull had suffered from post-mortem damage but was lying on the left side facing north. The left arm was flexed and raised towards the head with the left hand positioned near the face, while the right arm was folded at a right angle across his body and the hand was positioned near the left elbow. The right leg was bent at the knee and slightly overlay the left leg. The skeleton of SK 290 was also buried in an extended position but on his right side – facing the opposite direction to SK 289 – and with both legs slightly bent at the knees. The skull of SK 290 had also suffered from post-mortem damage but was lying on the right side, facing south. His left arm was bent across his body and the right arm was slightly bent towards the body, with the right and left hand positioned together on the right side of the pelvis. The left leg overlay the right leg at the ankles. The feet of both individuals were positioned together. The lower limbs of SK 290 crossed the lower limbs of SK 289, thereby indicating that SK 289 had been positioned in the grave first – before the body of SK 290 was interred. SK 289 was a young adult male who exhibited two separate sharp force perimortem injuries to his right femur and right patella (see Chapter 15). The injuries had probably been caused by a sword. In addition, he also displayed a well-healed fracture at the distal end of the shaft of his right ulna. Malunion of the fracture caused the bone to have a bowed appearance. SK 290 was a middle-aged male who displayed a range of common palaeopathological lesions, including cribra orbitalia and symphalangism, as well as signs of having suffered from a chronic infection which had resulted in reactive new bone formation on the sacrum, the left ribs and on the right fifth metatarsal. One of the ribs had been infected to such an extent that a deep bone infection (osteomyelitis) had occurred. No evidence of trauma was apparent in the bones of SK 290 and there are no further clues as to the reason why these two males were buried within the same grave cut. Gilchrist and Sloane (2005, 156) have suggested that adult and child burials or the double burials of children were quite common in medieval cemeteries. One explanation they offer for the latter type of burial is that two children from the same family may have died at the same time and it was then considered appropriate to bury them together. It is possible, although untestable in the absence of ancient DNA analysis, that SK 289 and SK 290 were related and that this may account for their burial together. An alternative explanation may be that they both died as a result of an attack and were later buried together. There are no weapon injuries on SK

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 66

66

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

290 to support this theory, however, but it is possible that he had received a fatal injury to the soft tissues which did not affect the underlying skeleton. Adults and juveniles As mentioned above adult and child burials are not uncommon in medieval cemeteries and four possible examples were identified at Ballyhanna. In two instances an adult male appeared to have been buried with an infant (SK 876 and SK 877; SK 824 and SK 823). The discovery of infants apparently buried in association with adult males is perhaps unexpected but it is possible that in each case the two individuals were related or that it was deemed appropriate to burial unrelated individuals who had died at the same time in a community together. This may also have been the case for another double burial that included the remains of an adult male (SK 982) with an adolescent (SK 981). A further possible multiple burial may be found in the interment of SK 978, a young adult female, who was buried with baby twins (SK 986 and SK 979) (Fig. 3.12). It is difficult to be certain, however, that the twins had definitely been delivered and were not still in utero. SK 986 had an age-atdeath of 36 lunar weeks, while SK 979 was aged at 37 lunar weeks thereby clearly illustrating the dangers of assigning precise age-at-death values to perinatal infants on the basis of diaphyseal measurements. Modern ultrasound tests frequently indicate size discrepancies in unborn twins which can arise as a result of the unequal distribution of amniotic fluid or differences in blood flow (Piontelli 2002, 43). As such, it is quite probable that SK 979 had been afforded an advantageous situation in the womb relative to the smaller SK 986. Neither baby displayed any palaeopathological lesions. In the modern world twins are considered to have reached full-term at around 36–37 weeks in utero, by which time the intrauterine environment is no longer considered sufficient to continue sustaining their growth (Piontelli 2002, 25). SK 978 appears to have been a very petite individual, with an estimated living stature of only 144.4 cm. It is possible that, in the absence of modern medical intervention, the delivery of twin babies was simply too difficult for her and that she and the babies had died as a result of the birthing process. Even in the modern world twins form a high proportion of prenatal and perinatal deaths. Both twins are presented in the favourable vertex position in only 40% of cases and even then there can be complications – after delivery of the first twin the second twin has more room to move around and frequently changes position, making a spontaneous delivery impossible (Piontelli 2002, 22, 52). The babies were positioned to the left of the mother; the head of SK 986 rested on her upper abdomen, while the head of SK 979 was laid lower down on her abdomen. It is difficult to assess the impact of decomposition on the position of the bodies of the babies; space occurred between the bodies of the two infants and is suggestive that they had been delivered but this is not definitive. SK 986 lay in a prone position which would seem at odds with this

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 67

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

67

3.12 SK 978, a young adult female, with her baby twins, SK 986 and SK 979 (Photo by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

interpretation but it is possible the infant body had rolled over during decomposition of the mother. This burial was especially poignant since the mother had been carefully laid out in her grave in a way that seemed to deliberately connect her to the infants. If we conclude that the twins had died after delivery then the mother’s arms appear to have been arranged so that they cradled both babies and her right hand was positioned on top of the body of SK 979. In the scenario that the babies were unborn the mother’s right hand had clearly been deliberately placed on top of her abdomen.

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 68

68

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

3.13 a. In situ view of SK 227, a young adult female, with SK 339, a full term infant, within her pelvic cavity. It is likely that both the mother and child died during childbirth. b. Detail of the pelvis of SK 227 in which the head of SK 339 can be clearly seen pushed tightly against the pelvic bones (Photos by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, annotation by Libby Mulqueeny).

Two of the perinatal infants were definitely recovered from within the abdomens of adult females and had clearly died, along with their mothers, while they were still in utero. SK 60A, was a preterm infant with an age-at-death of 30–34 lunar weeks. Unfortunately, the state of preservation meant that it was not possible to establish the position of the baby in utero. It is possible that the mother, SK 60B, a middle-aged female, and her unborn infant had died as a result of premature labour. Interestingly, the pelvic bones of the individual were notably androgenous and this may have prevented the woman from successfully delivering the baby. It is also feasible, however, that the mother had succumbed to a disease unrelated to her pregnancy or died as a result of an accident. SK 339 was a full term infant with an age-at-death of 39 lunar weeks. Excavation photographs clearly show that the baby’s head was pushed tightly against the mother’s (SK 227, young adult) pelvic bones and it would seem highly probable that both the mother and baby had died during the birthing process (Fig. 3.13). In the excavation notes for SK 784, a full term infant with an age-at-death of 37 lunar weeks, it is recorded that ‘most of the upper half [of SK 784] was also lying on a piece of pelvic bone’ and that one side of an adult pelvis was located to the right of the skeleton. It is possible that these remains are those of a further pregnant female and that SK 784 had also been an unborn infant. Childbirth is thought to have been hazardous for mother and infant alike during the Middle Ages. The birth would have taken place at home and been

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 69

Burial practices at medieval Ballyhanna

69

attended by a midwife, whose skill would have meant the difference between life and death for the mother and her baby (see Gélis 1991, 229–32; Nic Suibhne 1992, 6). Death during childbirth, or shortly after, would have been caused by haemorrhaging or infection or have been related to the malpositioning of the baby in utero (see Gélis 1991, 238–50). The situation would potentially have been exacerbated for poor women who may have been malnourished and probably had to undertake heavy physical work up until close to the birth of the baby. Tait (2003, 6–7) describes two difficult births detailed in the seventeenth-century biography of Samuel Winter, an independent minister, also described as the ‘sometime provest of Trinity Colledge near Dublin’ in the title of his biography. In one instance his sisterin-law survived haemorrhaging but delivered a dead child, while in another case a merchant’s wife, Mrs Smith, delivered a dead baby after many days in labour. The accounts from this time have been interpreted as suggesting that the primary aim of the midwives and other attendants was to ensure the safety of the mother and the alleviation of their suffering, while the lives of the infants appear to have been of secondary concern (Tait 2003, 7). Gilchrist (2012, 209) has noted that in medieval England women who had died in childbirth were considered by the Church to be impure by association with the unbaptized foetus. Writing in the late fourteenth century, the English Augustinian canon, John Mirk, stated that: ‘A womman þat dyeth in chyldyng schal not ben byred in chirch, but in chirch-ȝarde, so þat þe schylde furste be takon oute of hure and byried outewyth chyrch-ȝorde.’ [a woman that died in childing shall not be buried in the church, but in the churchyard, so that the child first be taken out of her and buried outwith the churchyard] (Erbe 1905, 298). Although this was the position of the Church, it is clear that the local communities often ignored this advice as there are many examples from medieval England of neonates being excavated from the pelvic cavities of their mothers (Gilchrist 2012, 209). Similarly, the inclusion of both heavily pregnant and newly delivered babies, as well as the remains of tiny pre-term babies, in the burial ground at Ballyhanna is a clear indication that these women and their babies were not rigorously excluded by the Church and society at this time. Indeed, it would appear to be the case that all members of society – including miscarried and stillborn infants – were generally considered suitable for interment within the consecrated burial ground at Ballyhanna. The Counter-Reformation in Ireland during the early seventeenth century seems to have changed this situation quite dramatically, with elements within the Church actively engaged in efforts to prevent their burial within consecrated ground. This resulted in the proliferation of unconsecrated children’s burial grounds (cillíní) throughout Ireland where the remains of unbaptized babies and, on occasion, pregnant women were laid to rest (see Donnelly and Murphy 2008; 2018; Murphy 2011; see Chapter 5).

03 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 70

70

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland S U M M A RY

The excavations at Ballyhanna yielded a huge amount of information concerning how the living interred the dead in medieval Gaelic Donegal. As would be expected for a Christian burial, most people were buried in an extended, supine position with a west–east orientation without grave goods. While they were very much in the minority, the discovery of individuals in atypical burial positions and/or with associated objects requires some explanation and enables the exploration of the potential motives that may have lain behind these more unusual interments. Given the consecrated nature of the burial ground at Ballyhanna it would seem inappropriate to view the burials as deviant. It is highly unlikely that these individuals were viewed in a negative manner by other members of their society, as we may perhaps assume, for example, is the case for atypical burials recovered from known execution cemeteries (see e.g., Buckberry 2008). It is possible that some of the atypical burial positions and associated artefacts are accidental and simply occur as a result of the disturbance of burials or the unintentional burial of artefacts. Certain examples, however, are difficult to explain in this way. Indeed, in a number of cases the association of an atypical burial position and grave goods may be signalling the particularly devout nature of an individual, such as the east–west burial of the woman with the scallop shell and quartz (SK 1175) or the north–south burial of the woman with the possible rosary and quartz (SK 495). Other cases, such as the two women (SK 182 and SK 543), whose skeletons displayed signs of chronic tuberculosis, and who were afforded tightly flexed burials may have suffered during life. The subtle differences apparent in the burial rites at Ballyhanna may indicate that the living were personalizing the burials of particular people. These individuals may have been considered to have a special character in life – perhaps, in some cases, they were particularly religious or were individuals who were known to have undergone major suffering due to disease or injury. In addition, there is a suggestion that apotropaic or ‘special’ items were being placed within certain burials. The burial of children, particularly the very young, with flexed legs, may have been an attempt to replicate a natural sleeping position and there is other evidence that potentially connects domestic life to the burial sphere. The burials at Ballyhanna were not fully conforming to standard burial practices – extended supine with the head to the west – and we can see numerous attempts at individualization that may indicate that the families of the deceased were intimately involved in the physical act of their deposition in the ground (see Murphy 2017, 243–7 for discussion).

04 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 71

4. The condition of the human remains ‘Do neoch ro thecht beathaid mbí, iter fhir is mac is mnaí, dochum thalman, adbal ceal, is gúr berar in slúaiged’. ‘All that have had living life, man, boy, woman, earthwards, a vast dissolution, is the hosting swiftly led’. ‘The Hosting of Death’, verse 18 – poem attributed to Cummín cecinit (Bergin 1970, 196, 305)

I N T RO D U C T I O N

This short chapter comprises a detailed look at the condition of the 1296 skeletons since this has a major impact on the amount of information that can be expected to be retrieved from a skeletal population and sets the scene for the osteological and palaeopathological analysis. The discussion commences with an assessment of the overall completeness of the individuals and examines the minimum number of individual (MNI) values obtained for each skeletal element. This is followed by an examination of the degree of fragmentation and a review of the state of macroscopic bone preservation apparent in each individual. A detailed assessment of the condition of the skeletons is a critical first step in an osteoarchaeological study since it can provide information about the taphonomic and anthropogenic processes that have affected a corpse since it was first buried (Bello and Andrews 2006, 1). In the case of a medieval cemetery, anthropogenic activities might include the inter-cutting of graves or the practice of rotational burial in which earlier burials are disturbed by later interments (Mytum 1989, 286). COMPLETENESS

Completeness refers to the proportion of the skeleton that is present for analysis and it can have a major impact on the amount of information that can be obtained for an individual. If only a small percentage of a skeleton is recovered, for example, it may not be possible to estimate basic demographic parameters such as, the sex or the age of the individual. The completeness of the skeletal remains is also particularly important for the study of palaeopathology since some diseases, such as tuberculosis and leprosy, are not only 71

04 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 72

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

72

4.1 Plan from a section of the Ballyhanna burial ground showing the partial completeness of many of the skeletons (Prepared by Sapphire Mussen and based on the original site plan by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd).

Table 4.1 Summary of the levels of completeness of the Ballyhanna skeletons (n=1296). Age

0–25%

25–50%

50–75%

75–100%

Juvenile 28.1% (120/427) 34.0% (145/427) 13.3% (57/427) 24.6% (105/427) Adult

42.9% (373/869) 19.7% (171/869) 14.1% (123/869) 23.3% (202/869)

Total

38.0% (493/1296) 24.4% (316/1296) 13.9% (180/1296) 23.7% (307/1296)

identified on the basis of the characteristics of the lesions but also on their distribution throughout the skeleton. Hence, if parts of a skeleton are absent it can be impossible to make definitive identifications of some diseases. To facilitate a detailed assessment of the completeness of a skeleton both written and visual inventories were compiled for each of the Ballyhanna individuals (see Appendices 2 and 3 for the visual inventories). The completeness of each individual was assessed according to the percentage of the skeleton present using the following categories – 75% complete for juveniles (n=427). Skeletal element Frontal Parietal Occipital (squamous) Temporal (petrous) Sphenoid Zygomatic Maxilla Mandible Clavicle Scapula Humerus Radius Ulna Ilium Ischium Pubis Femur Tibia Fibula

N 159 205 257 202 174 106 135 210 207 209 115 83 78 249 187 122 146 114 48

Left % expected 37.2 48 60.2 47.3 40.7 24.8 31.6 49.2 48.5 48.9 26.9 19.4 18.3 58.3 43.8 28.6 34.2 26.7 11.2

N 157 210 255 211 181 122 143 217 240 241 156 90 90 261 191 122 160 117 60

Right % expected 36.8 49.2 59.7 49.4 42.4 28.6 33.5 50.8 56.2 56.4 36.5 21.1 21.1 61.1 44.7 28.6 37.5 27.4 14.1

Summary details of the larger juvenile cranial and post-cranial bones in which the data for all age groups have been amalgamated are provided in Table 4.6, while the corresponding data for the adults are provided in Table 4.7. The right ilium was the best represented juvenile element with some 61.1% (261/427) of expected numbers present, while the fibulae were the most poorly represented of the larger juvenile bones, with only 11.2% (48/427) of expected left and 14.1% (60/427) of expected right bones present. The most frequently occurring skeletal element among the adults was the right ischium (39.8%; 346/869), while the left scapula (4.7%; 41/869) and the sphenoid (6.7%; 58/869) were the least well represented elements. When the value of 61.1% for the best represented juvenile bone is compared to the corresponding value of 39.8% for the adult bones it is clear there is a better representation of the main skeletal elements among the juvenile bones. This situation finds resonance with Manifold’s (2010) study of juvenile bone preservation which concluded that, with the exception of the facial bones and the smaller bones of the hands and feet, immature bones have the potential to be very well preserved on archaeological sites. It is likely that the highly disturbed nature of the Ballyhanna graveyard has had a negative impact on the completeness of adult bones, with many of these being badly fragmented – which has then caused their exclusion from the MNI counts.

04 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 80

Life and Death in Medieval Gaelic Ireland

80

Table 4.7 Bone counts of skeletal elements >75% complete for adults (n=869). Skeletal element Frontal Parietal Occipital Temporal Sphenoid Zygomatic Maxilla Mandible Clavicle Scapula Humerus Radius Ulna Carpals Metacarpals Ilium Ischium Pubis Femur Patella Tibia Fibula Calcaneus Talus Tarsals* Metatarsals

N 152 194 257 226 58 171 119 256 291 41 179 204 202 1543 1286 255 339 139 311 220 257 126 262 260 939 854

Left % expected 17.5 22.3 29.6 26.0 6.7 19.7 13.7 29.5 33.5 4.7 20.6 23.5 23.2 22.2 29.6 29.3 39.0 16.0 35.8 25.3 29.6 14.5 30.1 29.9 21.6 19.7

N 159 185 257 229 58 177 121 260 316 67 222 254 220 1600 1393 268 346 129 331 234 275 134 257 262 928 909

Right % expected 18.3 21.3 29.6 26.4 6.7 20.4 13.9 29.9 36.4 7.7 25.5 29.2 25.3 23.0 32.1 30.8 39.8 14.8 38.1 26.9 31.6 15.4 29.6 30.1 21.4 20.9

*Excluding the calcanei and tali.

For adults, the smaller, or more fragile, bones of the cranium, scapulae, hands and feet were particularly poorly represented (Fig. 4.5). This could be due in part to the fact that sieving was not undertaken during the excavation and it is possible that smaller bones may have been misidentified during the excavation. Mays (2010, 19–22) suggests that the smaller bones are commonly absent from skeletal collections and recommends that sieving should take place on site during the excavation if time permits. As outlined above, it is clear that the Ballyhanna graveyard was intensively used and that there was substantial disturbance caused to the earlier graves by the later interments. McCarthy (2015) undertook an analysis of the substantial corpus of disarticulated human remains recovered from Ballyhanna. In her study the smaller bones were very well represented in the disarticulated bone assemblage. This pattern may indicate that during the digging of grave cuts for later burials a conscious

04 Ballyhanna.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2018 14:19 Page 81

The condition of the human remains

81

Scapulae Sphenoid Foot phalanges Sterna Maxillae Sacra Fibulae Frontal bones Zygomatics Metatarsals Tarsals Parietals Hand phalanges Carpals Ribs Humeri Ulnae Thoracic vertebrae Cervical vertebrae Patellae Temporals Radii Occipitals Mandibles Calcanei Tali Ilia Tibiae Metacarpals Lumbar vertebrae Clavicles Femora 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

4.5 Frequency of adult skeletal elements expressed as a percentage of the expected number of bones if all of the adult skeletons were complete.

effort was made not to dislodge the larger bones of previously interred skeletons and that the smaller extremity bones were moved to accommodate a new grave. The bone counts from the vast quantity of disarticulated material have not been included with the MNI bone counts here. F R AG M E N TAT I O N

Following a similar approach to the assessment of completeness, the degree of fragmentation evident in the remains was also graded as a percentage – 75% (96/201) 33.5% Total (291/869)