2017:574 - Cappagh West 1, Cork

Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Cappagh West 1 was undertaken as part of the N22 Baile Bhuirne–Macroom Road Scheme (Lot 1) Archaeological Consultancy Services Contract. The excavation was carried out on behalf of Cork County Council and funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Charcoal production pit (003) was sub-rectangular in shape, with rounded corners. It was steep at the northern side with a gradual slope at the southern side with a flat base. Pit (003) measured 2.64 m in length, 2 m in width, and 0.16 m in depth. Its basal fill (005) was moderately compact dark black charcoal enriched fill. The upper fill (004) was moderately compact light grey silty clay with occasional flecks of charcoal in the bottom part of this fill. In the northern end of the pit was a loose orange brown clayey sand fill (013), which was stained with traces of in-situ burning.

Charcoal production pit (006) was sub-rectangular in shape with rounded corners, concave sides and irregular, undulating base. It measured 2.80 m in length, 1.94 m in width, and 0.21 m in depth. There were three furrows truncating the surface of (006), possibly from small scale farming in the area. The basal fill (008) was loose to moderately compact dark grey black charcoal-enriched silty clay with abundant charcoal present. The upper fill (007) was a light white grey silty clay with moderate inclusions of charcoal flecks and small pieces of charcoal.

Analysis of the charcoal fragments recovered from two of the pits showed that a diversity of wood species were used, but dominated by oak and hazel. Ash, pomaceous fruitwoods, ash and birch were also recorded. This suite of taxa is commonly recorded from the latter part of the early medieval and later medieval period in Ireland, where a rise in the oak signal has been attributed to an increase in woodland management practices. The increase in pomaceous fruitwoods is also a feature of later medieval dated sites and has been interpreted as being associated with an increase in orchards/managed woodlands, the offcuts of which from pruning were probably used as fuel/firewood. Analysis of growth ring data showed that larger branchwood/heartwood were generally favoured for charcoal production.

Dating

Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from maloideae and willow charcoal (one from each of the two charcoal production pits) at Cappagh West 1. These indicated that the activity recorded at the site was undertaken during the late medieval period, with returned date ranges of 1315-1433cal AD (2σ) (SUERC-86080) and 1409-1450 cal AD (2σ) (SUERC-86079) respectively. The dating indicates that both pits were likely in use at the same time or at least within a relatively short time of each other, possibly in the early 15^th century as the dates overlap between 1409 and 1433. Two other nearby charcoal production sites on the current scheme at Cappagh East 1 and Cappagh East 2 returned similar late medieval dates.