2004:1416 - BALLYKEAN BOG, Kilbeg, Offaly

This site was described by the IAWU in 2003 as a post row orientated south-east/north-west, identified on four field surfaces. It was recorded as five squared stakes, some horizontal and others at an angle of 60 degree, with three further groups of two to three squared stakes. At the time of excavation, one of the sightings (OF-KLG0031d) was under a newly established stockpile, while another (OF-KLG0031c) could not be located on the field surface. Sighting OF-KLG0031b consisted of three squared stakes, two being adjacent and the third 0.6m to the south-west. No stakes could be located at sighting OF-KLG0031a, but a fragment of an oak plank was found on the field surface. Measuring 0.6m by 0.12m by 0.03m, it was in poor condition, being dried out and crushed. It was lying in an east-west orientation and had evidence of a square-cut central mortise at its western end.

Slots were excavated next to the stakes at sighting OF-KLG0031b in order to record them in section before they were sampled. All three stakes had been truncated and broken just below the surface. They appeared to be of oak, were rectangular in profile with squared-off ends and had been inserted into the ground at slight angles. The three stakes would appear to be pegs and, taking the evidence from these two sightings together, the remnants of a single-plank trackway running east-west is suggested. The planks were possibly fixed by means of a single central mortise, as also seen at several locations along trackways OF-KLG001 (No. 1412, Excavations 2004, 04E0797) and OF-KLG0002 (No. 1415, Excavations 2004, 04E0800). The rectangular profile of the pegs and their shallow convex facets would be compatible with a prehistoric date and it is hoped that the wood samples may provide confirmation of this.

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