2007:1436 - Ballykean Bog, Ballintemple, Offaly

The site is located in Ballykean Bog, 5km south-east of Daingean, and was discovered by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit during their 2003 Peatland Survey. The first phase of excavation took place in June and July 2007 and revealed what appeared to be a figure-of-eight house situated on a slightly raised mound of poorly humified moss peat and surrounded by a subcircular palisade. Although the site was bisected by a field drain and partly truncated by milling, the excavation, restricted at this stage to exploring the nature of the site and its limits, uncovered substantial remains.
The site was defined by a subcircular palisade, some 20m in diameter. In places this was a single row of closely spaced roundwood posts, while at intervals there was a double row, with clusters of 2–3 posts also occurring. Associated wattle was also noted in places. It is not yet clear where the entrance was located, although there are gaps to the east and north-east. A total of 193 palisade posts have so far been noted.
The main part of the house structure contained a central rectangular hearth, measuring 2.3m by 1.4m, with a marl surface and a foundation of densely placed wooden piles. The hearth appeared to have been renewed at least once and a quantity of animal bone was recovered from the surrounding charcoal. Around the hearth was a wooden floor, measuring 5.7m by 4m, composed of regularly laid roundwoods, jointed and pegged in place, beneath a compacted peat surface. An oval line of stakes and posts, with traces of wattling present in places, defined the extent of the floor. There were two entrances to this part of the house, to the east and west. Internal compartments were indicated by five radial rows of stakes around the floor and, to the south, another small area of closely laid timber. All of this was surrounded to the south by a double arc of stakes and wattling, 1.7m apart at their widest point and converging towards the entrances, probably representing an exterior double wall. Although the extent of these walls has yet to be fully determined to the north, it is estimated that the structure measures c. 9m in diameter.
Immediately beyond the western entrance, but separated from it by a drain, a second timber surface was partly uncovered. This consisted of thin parallel planks laid over transverse roundwoods and probably represents the back part of the house.
The interior of the palisade was covered with a layer of bark, twigs and woodchips, probably laid down to provide both a dry surface and a foundation for the structures. Although the site was situated on a low mound of poorly humified moss peat, it appears to have experienced severe subsidence on its eastern side, where a large amount of wood, some charred, was found in the low-lying areas.
Radiocarbon samples from the main floor timbers and the palisade have returned dates of ad 440–620 and ad 580–780 respectively. So far, the finds have consisted of several pieces of leather off-cuts and a possible wooden spindle, as well as some animal bone, burnt stone and a few small fragments of chert and flint.