County: Offaly Site name: BALLYKEAN BOG, Kilbeg
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0802
Author: Sinclair Turrell, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 650340m, N 720131m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.229192, -7.246038
Two sites were recorded, adjacent to one other in a drain face, by the IAWU in 2003. OF-KLG0027 was described as three closely laid roundwoods, in moderate condition, lying in a north-south orientation. OF-KLG0028 was recorded as a single brushwood situated 0.45m above OF-KLG0027. At the time of excavation, no wood was visible in the drain face, although sockets indicated its former presence. These two sites were excavated as one by means of a cutting measuring 2m by 2m. The cutting was excavated to a depth of 1.2m through moderately well-humified Sphagnum peat with frequent patches of Eriophorum. The only trace of any wood was a small stump of the brushwood from OF-KLG0028, projecting slightly into the cutting from the centre of the western baulk. No remains of OF-KLG0027 were discovered. Since virtually nothing of these sites remained, very little can be said by way of interpretation. These two sites form part of a cluster of sightings of brushwood in this area of the bog, but it is not possible to ascribe any definite function to them from the information currently available.
Windsor House, 11, Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
