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 Reassessment Peatland Survey as a roundwood and brushwood platform exposed on the field surface beside a drain edge (Whitaker 2014).

The site was excavated in 2014 (licence 14E0277). It was dated to cal. 811-541 BC (UBA-26589). The site consisted of roundwood and brushwood elements, a probable platform that was laid directly on an extensive root horizon. The elements were haphazardly laid and were generally in poor condition. They consisted mainly of pomoideae, followed by ash and alder. The upper elements had been damaged by machinery during milling and the lower elements were soft and mushy. Most of the exposed elements were associated with the root horizon, which continued beyond the limits of the cutting, so the precise extent of the constructed platform was unclear. A single worked end was recovered on a piece of oak brushwood, which was a heavily degraded and rotted chisel point (Coughlan and Whitaker 2019).

Compiled by: Femke Vleeshouwer/Jane Whitaker/Tim Coughlan

Date of upload: 15 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 Unpublished report submitted to DOEHLG & BnM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 Unpublished report prepared by ADS for Bord na Móna.