Freestone Hill

alt=Photograph of the summit of Freestone Hill. Remnants of the burial cairn can still be observed around the site.|thumb|Summit of Freestone Hill. '''Freestone Hill''' is a prehistoric burial cairn and Iron Age hillfort in County Kilkenny in Ireland. A lone thorn tree stands at its top.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=345|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref>

== Geography == The cairn is located approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) east of Kilkenny City. The hill rises steeply on all sides above the surrounding and the summit is a lightly rounded plateau.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bersu |first=Gerhard |date=1969 |title=Freestone Hill, Co. Kilkenny: An Iron Age Hillfort and Bronze Age Cairn: Excavation: Gerhard Bersu, 1948-1949 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25505153 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature |volume=68 |pages=1–108|jstor=25505153 }}</ref> The view from the summit is vast, enabling the onlooker to see much of the encompassing region of County Kilkenny. Freestone Hill is seen to lay within the large natural "amphitheatre" surrounded by the Wicklow Mountains to the north, the Blackstairs to the east, Slievnaman to the south-west, and the Galtees to the west.<ref name=":0" />

== Description == The burial mound at Freestone Hill was built to contain human remains during the Early Bronze Age, around 2000 BCE. Gerhard Bursu excavated the site in 1946, finding three inhumation burials as well as thirteen cremations, two of which were associated with food vessel pottery from the era. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Freestone Hill : Kilkenny Archaeology |url=http://www.kilkennyarchaeology.ie/latest-news/freestone-hill/ |access-date=2022-05-26 |language=en}}</ref> No inhumations at the site were buried with grave goods, but the excavation report suggests that they may have been secondary insertions into the burial cairn.<ref name=":0" />

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Burial monuments and structures in Ireland Category:Prehistoric sites in Ireland Category:Archaeological sites in County Kilkenny