County: Clare Site name: DRUMCULLAUN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0348
Author: Ellen O'Carroll, Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Post row - peatland
Period/Dating: Iron Age (800 BC-AD 339)
ITM: E 517295m, N 682500m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.887014, -9.228915
In September 1997 a two-day excavation was carried out on a post row in County Clare at the request of the NMHPS. The site is located in a bog in Drumcullaun townland which is currently being hand-cut for fuel. It was during this process that a number of posts were found and reported to the NMHPS.
The excavated peat face showed nine posts running in an east-west direction for a distance of over 4m. The posts had been driven into the peat at angles of between 10 and 30 degrees off the vertical. They averaged 70mm in diameter and had been inserted into the peat at regular intervals of approximately 0.5m. The surviving length of the posts ranged from 0.22m to 0.5m. These lengths do not represent the original length of each post as the tops showed signs of having rotted. The tip of each post had been cut to either a wedge or chisel point with a metal tool.
All posts were microscopically identified as to species. They were all birch (Betula sp.) and had between 14 and 21 annual tree-rings. This may suggest that birch had been specifically chosen for use.
A sample of one of the posts was submitted to Beta Analytic, Miami, for radiocarbon dating. A date of 700–530 cal. BC (2 sigma) was returned. This places the post row in the Late Bronze Age.
The post row continued into the peat face at its eastern end. It was therefore impossible to establish the true length of the site without the aid of a mechanical digger to remove the peat face. This site was probably a small stretch of a much longer post row. Local people recount that a second similar structure was noted about 150m to the west and a third over 250m to the east. This may mean that the post row originally continued across the bog for over 400m.
The function of this site type remains enigmatic. It is possible that they could have been boundary markers or fences. Stakes and posts have also functioned as deer-traps, either for impaling deer or used as 'drift fences' to direct animals towards other types of traps.
Some posts were not examined as they ran into the peat face, and may run into the bog for some distance. The landowner has been informed of the situation and will monitor the area for the exposure of more posts while turf-cutting.
