County: Roscommon Site name: CLS154, Cloonshannagh, Cloonshannagh Bog
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 14E0274
Author: Tim Coughlan
Site type: Platform possible
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 603017m, N 780947m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.778096, -7.954227
Cloonshannagh Bog is located 3km north-west of Termonbarry and 2.5km west of Lough Forbes. The bog is part of the Bord na Móna Mountdillon Group and has a total area of 331 hectares. A survey by ADS in 2008 under licence 08E0645 identified a total of 88 sites. Upon re-assessment by ADS in 2013 under licence 13E0221 89 sites were recorded. Of the 89 sightings, 60 were platform sightings, 18 sightings were of archaeological wood and 11 were trackway sightings, all of varying lengths and widths. Of these 35 sites were listed for excavation as part of the current contract.
A cutting measuring 4.9m by 1.1m was opened to expose the remains of site CLS154. The cutting was originally set out as being 2.8m wide (restricted due to presence of a stockpile ridge) but was reduced to 1.1m as the site did not extend beyond this area. The peat above and around the elements of the site consisted of reddish brown poorly humified (H1 to H2) sphagnum peat with some eriophorum, calluna and bog bean. A previously unrecorded platform site RO-CLS186 was identified on the field surface and was excavated to facilitate works on RO-CLS154. The two sites are not directly related to each other.
The site was originally recorded as a Class 3 togher although it appears following excavation that it may represent a type of roundwood fence-type structure. It was constructed of four vertical roundwood pegs which had brushwood and roundwood elements intertwined and woven between them to create a fence-like structure. It is likely that the site continued to the north but had been removed by the Bord na Móna drain. Elements identified in the opposing drain face c. 5m south of the excavated cutting appeared to represent a continuation of the structure. Up to four layers of timbers could be identified around the posts although they were not particularly densely packed.
The elements were generally poorly preserved, possibly indicating that they had been exposed for some time before they were inundated. A number of the elements appeared to have evidence of insect damage and this will be examined during post-excavation analysis.
A fragment of ash was chosen for AMS dating from samples taken from the 2013 ADS survey and returned a result of 1877–1635 BC.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
