2017:570 - KILLEEN (1), Cork

Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Killeen 1 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.

The recorded archaeology consisted of a burnt mound, which measured 11.4 m x 9.5 m x 0.4 m in size, with an oval shaped trough and four small, likely unrelated, deposits of burnt mound material (two to the north-east, one in the north-west and one in the south of the site and one posthole.

A stone lined pit was found to the southeast of the trough. Although the stratigraphic relationship with the trough was not certain it would appear to have been earlier than the trough—both from the lack of stone lining at the northwest edge of the pit and the Chacolithic date that was returned from a sample of charcoal. This was one of a number of similar features excavated on burnt mound sites along the route of the N22.

Specialist analysis
Analysis of the charcoal fragments showed that a variety of species were used on the site; with oak dominating the assemblage accounting for 81%. The other identified species included hazel (8%), pomaceous woods and ash (3% each) with the remainder made up of willow, birch, alder buckthorn and pine. The woods recorded are largely dryland species, which suggests that conditions were dry.

The majority of the charcoal identified contained between 2 and 10 annual growth rings and were classified as being from small to large branchwood/heartwood since the growth rings displayed a strong to weak curvature profile

Dating
A total of five radiocarbon dates were obtained from ash charcoal for the trough and the burnt mound and birch and alder charcoal for two small spreads and willow charcoal from a stone-lined pit excavated at Killeen 1. These indicated that the activity recorded at the site spanned the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze through to the Middle/Late Bronze Age.