County: Cork Site name: Killeen 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004902
Author: John O'Connor, Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd
Site type: Burnt mound and associated features
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 521514m, N 577181m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.941192, -9.141538
Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Killeen 3 was undertaken as part of the N22 Baile Bhuirne–Macroom Road Scheme (Lot 3) Archaeological Consultancy Services Contract. The excavation was carried out on behalf of Cork County Council and funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland and revealed the remains of a burnt mound and associated features.
The recorded archaeology at Killeen 3 consisted of a burnt mound 3.65 m x 2.62 m x 0.24 m in size, comprised of one deposit. Partially underlying the eastern side of the mound was an unlined rectangular trough (020) measuring 1.7 m x 1.33 m x 0.32 m deep. Five stake-holes (024) (025) (026) (028) (030) were found at the base of the trough with all five located in the corners suggesting the former presence of some form of lining.
Two pits (004) (011) were located 17.35 m to the northwest of the burnt mound (003). Each pit contained two fills and were truncated to the north (004) and south (011) by the insertion of a later field drain (012).
As with the vast majority of burnt mound sites, the lack of diagnostic artefacts, palaeo-environmental material and faunal remains results in the specific function of the trough being impossible to determine. What can be said is that the feature was used to heat water in the middle to late Bronze Age, which is a typical date of use for this class of archaeological monument
Specialist analysis
Analysis of the charcoal fragments recovered showed that some distinctive woods were being used at the site - oak dominated from deposit C7 and trough C20 and an associated deposit C18; ash values are high from pit C4, deposit C7 and burnt mound C3, while the alder signal is highest from C3. Hazel is the main wood taxa recorded from two stakeholes (C26 and C28), indicating a selection bias in the woods used for construction works at the site. If the distribution of oak is plotted for each of the trough fills (C19, C22 and C23), the basal fill (C23) contained just oak, while more woods (hazel, willow, pomaceous woods and cherry) are introduced into the fuel stock for subsequent activity (C22 and C19).
The wood taxa profile fits in with wider trends in charcoal analysis from similar excavated sites in Cork and more broadly across the country. Locally along the N22 scheme, this is also the overarching trend being recorded at other Late Bronze Age sites. The diversity of wood recorded, particularly the presence of ash, holly, cherry-type and pomaceous woods, is interpreted as possibly reflecting intense woodland clearance, where the felled woods were being used to fuel burnt mound activity. The rise in ash charcoal is a distinct trend being noted from other later Bronze Age dated burnt mound sites in Ireland and is seen to demonstrate the felling of secondary woodland.
Dating
A total of two radiocarbon dates were obtained from hazel charcoal recovered from a stakehole (026) at the base of the trough and from the mound itself (003). These indicated that the burnt mound activity recorded at the site took place during the Middle/Late Bronze Age. Hazel charcoal from the burnt mound (003) returned a date range of 977-827 cal BC (2σ) (SUERC-85854) and hazel charcoal from a stake-hole (026) at the base of the trough (020) returned a date range of 1207-997 cal BC (2σ) (SUERC-85853).
Unit 2, Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork
