2014:266 - Ballykilleen, Cloncreen Bog, Offaly

Cloncreen Bog was surveyed by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (IAWU) during the 2001 Archaeological Survey of Ireland Peatland Survey. Thirty-eight sites dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age were excavated in 2003 by Eoin Corcoran and Jane Whitaker as part of the Bord na Móna mitigation programme. A Re-Assessment survey was carried out on behalf of Bord na Móna in 2013 by the author under licence number 13E0228 which identified two peatland structures, one of which, OF-CCN-002, was recommended for excavation as part of the 2014-2017 BnM Mitigation Project. The site was recorded in 2013 as being composed of a possibly displaced east–west oriented timber, roundwood and brushwood with a single north–south oriented brushwood. The timber measured 0.1m in width, 0.04m in depth and 0.68m in length, the roundwood measured 0.09m in diameter and 0.36m in length while the brushwood were both 0.03m in diameter and 0.36m and 0.68m in length. The peat was moderately humified, dark brown sphagnum peat. The original find spot was re-located by GPS, however no in situ remains were visible in September 2014. An area measuring 3 x 3m was cleaned back by hand which confirmed that nothing remained of this fragmentary site. A sample taken during the survey was subsequently dated to 1929–1750 BC.

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