County: Cork Site name: Teerbeg 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004969
Author: Stuart Elder, Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd
Site type: Pit feature
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 532016m, N 574086m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.914763, -8.988196
Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Teerbeg 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.
The excavated feature comprised a single pit of unknown function containing a single stony fill.
Thirty-one charred oat (Avena sp.) grains and 12 cereal grains of indeterminate species (Cerealia) were identified. Oat was the mainstay crop of the later medieval period in Ireland; it can grow well in the humid, wet Irish climate and will tolerate poorer soils. In addition to being used in milling, it was also a staple in animal fodder and in the brewing of ales during the later medieval period. As it was less labour intensive to cultivate than wheat, oat was therefore more economically viable.
The charcoal identified contained a mix of wood taxa that is frequently recorded from medieval/late medieval sites in Ireland. While species such as pomaceous woods, blackthorn and hazel were recorded from other later medieval dated sites along the N22 the alder component recorded from Teerbeg 3 is generally under-represented from the N22 sites, which could signal that local soils were damper or that the site was close to a riverine woodland. This mixed wood assemblage implies that wood collection may have been more opportunistic than a strategic undertaking, which would be represented by a more homogenous wood assemblage. The local woodland probably comprised of damp scrubby woodland with open clearings.
One radiocarbon date was obtained from a charred oat grain for the pit excavated at Teerbeg 3. This returned a 2-sigma date of AD 1330–1441 (SUERC-87486).
A single lithic artefact recovered from topsoil during excavations at Teerbeg 3 was an incomplete retouched secondary flint flake fragment with both laterals and the proximal end missing. The flint used to manufacture the flake is likely to be pebble flint, which may have been recovered from the local glacial tills or from the coast c. 30–35 km to the southeast.
Unit 2, Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork
