2016:473 - Cooleagh, Tipperary

This licence was sought to retrieve sample material from the ditch-fill of multivallate rath TS062-052 in the townland of Cooleagh, Co. Tipperary. This was carried out in order to analyse the pollen content thus providing a profile of vegetation over time. Material from the sample can be sieved to retrieve carbon-dateable matter at depths along the core that are identified by notable changes or events in the pollen profile.

Using a 30mm diameter single gouge auger with an operational length of 1m, a vertical core sample was retrieved from the middle of the northern water-logged ditch. Location of core sample is ITM 621614, 641752. No other context was disturbed. The sample was taken in the second ditch in the north-western sector. The corer went 0.7m below the water line and retrieved 0.57m of core material. The top of the core was very wet and some material washed away. The soily material was a darkish brown at the top and noticeably lighter in colour and less wet further down. There were some greyish sections with some gravelly material at 0.15 -0.2m and 0.3-0.4m. The core sample was transferred to a sample tube, secured and sealed for transport to the Palaeoenvironmental Research Unit (PRU) at NUI Galway for the purpose of pollen analysis, which is being carried out at the time of writing.

School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway