Platform - peatland

The National Monuments Service's description

This site was located in the industrial peatlands of Cloonshannagh Bog. It was first recorded in the 2013 Peatland Reassessment Survey as a structure exposed on the field surface and the drain face on it W side (Whitaker 2014).

The site was excavated in 2014 under licence 14E0270, and dated to cal. AD 418-571. The structure was found to be a platform, consisting of alder, birch, hazel and willow roundwoods and brushwoods, laid in a generally haphazard manner. The overall combined orientation was roughly E-W. The elements were relatively sparsely set and were in poor condition, often fragmentary, and those at the surface had been milled. A number of worked ends were identified, many associated with small brushwood pegs or stakes. As with the other elements of the structure there was no clearly identifiable pattern to the stakes. Two toolmarks were retained for specialist analysis (Coughlan and Whitaker 2019).

Compiled by: Femke Vleeshouwer/Jane Whitaker/Tim Coughlan

Date of upload: 17 April 2020

References

Coughlan, T & Whitaker, J 2019 Final excavation report Cloonshannagh Bog, Co Roscommon. Bord na Mona Peatland Archaeological Services 2014-2017. Unpublished report submitted to DOEHLG & BnM

Whitaker, J. 2014 Re‐assessment Peatland Survey 2013, Blackwater, Boora, Derrydreenagh, Mountdillon Group of Bogs, County Offaly, Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon. Unpublished report prepared by ADS for Bord na Móna.