2001:815 - DERRYCOLUMB 4 BOG, Derrindiff, Longford

This site was excavated as part of the 2001 Bord na Móna (BnaM) Archaeological Mitigation Project. The site (99DBNW0018A) was recorded in 1999 as a togher composed of closely set, parallel roundwoods and brushwoods on the field surface immediately west-south-west of the drain. It was located in Derrindiff townland, approximately 50m north-north-west of sighting 99DBNW0014L of a Bronze Age plank trackway. Apart from the plank trackway there were no other sites in the immediate location.

A single cutting, 2m by 2m, was recommended in the mitigation strategy document. This was placed 0.2m west of the drain edge, where the milled wood was visible on the field surface. The peat overlying the cutting was poorly humified Sphagnum peat that was very fibrous and contained a lot of ericaceous heather roots overlying the wood and clumps of Eriophorum in the southern extent of the cutting. The site appears to have been a small roundwood and brushwood platform measuring 1.5m by 2m. The elements were closely placed and all were oriented north–south. They ranged in diameter from 0.01m to 0.14m and from 0.4m to 2m in length. There were worked ends present on five of the elements. These were chisel and wedge points with cutting angles ranging from 20° to 75°. All were flat-faceted and appear to have been made with a metal tool. The area immediately surrounding the site was examined and several slot-trenches were investigated but the site did not extend beyond the confines of the cutting. From its size and construction it is apparent that this site was a small platform structure. It is similar to several sites previously excavated and dated during the BnM mitigation works.

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