Platform - peatland

The National Monuments Service's description

This site is located in the industrial peatlands of Cornafulla Bog but its precise ITM was not recorded in both survey and excavation reports. It was first recorded in the 2013 Reassessment Peatland Survey as roundwood and brushwood elements visible in a W-facing drain face 0.3m below the field surface (Whitaker 2014). On excavation in 2016 (licence 15E0187) it was revealed to be a possible platform structure. The site was dated to cal. 793-492 BC (UBA 26654).

The platform site was excavated within a single cutting measuring 5x2m. It was mainly composed of E-W orientated roundwood and brushwood elements, placed two to three layers deep. They were mostly birch and alder, with some lesser amounts of blackthorn present. Some larger elements were present at the W extent of the site, close to the drain edge, and were orientated N-S. Several elements had toolmarked ends. The majority of those were single, flat-faceted toolmarks with both stepped and clean facet junctions.
Immediately underlying and interspersed with the wooden elements was a layer of small twigs and leafy detritus, within which a deposit of wet grassland plants was found. These layers might have been used as packing or padding. The underlying and overlying peat at this site was rich in sedge.

Compiled by: Jane Whitaker/Femke Vleeshouwer

Date of upload: 25 February 2020

References

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 Unpublished report prepared by ADS for Bord na Móna.

Whitaker, J. 2017 Final Excavation Report, Cornafulla Bog, Co Roscommon (15E0186–15E0187). Unpublished report prepared by IAC Ltd submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.