County: Tipperary Site name: DER218, Derryfadda
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0202ext.
Author: Cara Murray, Lisheen Archaeological Project, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Platform - peatland
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 622573m, N 666033m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.744899, -7.665674
In the south-eastern area the sites indicated the varying use of this marginal forest from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age. One of the sites completed during this season was the degraded platform site DER218 (2290–1700 cal. BC). This site measured 6.95m north–south x 4.68m east–west, was 0.35m deep, and was associated with three sherds of prehistoric pottery. It was located at the top of the fen peat and preliminary results indicate that it was constructed after a bog-burst that occurred in this area around 2200 BC. Water-levels would have dropped by up to 1m following such a catastrophe, making areas previously too wet and dangerous accessible. The result of drier conditions also led to a very high attrition rate on the archaeological material. A further result of this bog-burst was the exposure of non-archaeological wood that had been encroached upon by the bog during the Late Neolithic, which led to a dense concentration of wood in this area. This has been shown in the form of two Late Neolithic dendrochronological dates from material immediately below archaeological material in this area.
Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary
