# Freestone Hill

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**Freestone Hill** is a [prehistoric](/source/Prehistory) [burial cairn](/source/Cairn) and [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age_Ireland) [hillfort](/source/Hillfort) in [County Kilkenny](/source/County_Kilkenny) in [Ireland](/source/Ireland). A lone thorn tree stands at its top.[1]

## Geography

The cairn is located approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) east of [Kilkenny City](/source/Kilkenny). The hill rises steeply on all sides above the surrounding and the summit is a lightly rounded plateau.[2] 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](/source/Wicklow_Mountains) to the north, the [Blackstairs](/source/Blackstairs_Mountains) to the east, [Slievnaman](/source/Slievenamon) to the south-west, and the [Galtees](/source/Galtymore) to the west.[2]

## Description

The burial mound at Freestone Hill was built to contain human remains during the [Early Bronze Age](/source/Early_Bronze_Age), around [2000 BCE](/source/2000_BCE). Gerhard Bursu excavated the site in 1946, finding three [inhumation burials](/source/Inhumation_burials) as well as thirteen [cremations](/source/Cremation), two of which were associated with [food vessel](/source/Food_Vessel) pottery from the era. [3] No inhumations at the site were buried with [grave goods](/source/Grave_goods), but the excavation report suggests that they may have been secondary insertions into the burial cairn.[2]

## References

1. Meehan, Cary (2004). *Sacred Ireland*. Somerset: Gothic Image Publications. p. 345. ISBN 0 906362 43 1.

1. Bersu, Gerhard (1969). ["Freestone Hill, Co. Kilkenny: An Iron Age Hillfort and Bronze Age Cairn: Excavation: Gerhard Bersu, 1948-1949"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/25505153). *Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature*. **68**: 1–108. [JSTOR 25505153](https://www.jstor.org/stable/25505153)

1. ["Freestone Hill : Kilkenny Archaeology"](http://www.kilkennyarchaeology.ie/latest-news/freestone-hill/). Retrieved 2022-05-26.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Freestone Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestone_Hill) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestone_Hill?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.