2018:403 - Ballymakeery 2, Cork

Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Ballymakeery 2 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 features consisted of six burnt mounds (A, B, C, D, E & F), with their associated troughs, a dense collection of stakeholes, numerous postholes and an extensive field drainage system.

Burnt mound A (003) was located to the northwest of site. The mound was sub-circular in shape and contained 16 deposits with a single phase of use. These deposits were generally charcoal rich silt/clay and heat-shattered lime and sandstone, predominantly sandstone.

Two potential hearth features (095 & 101) were identified within Mound A, situated over mound material.

The trough was sub-rectangular in plan with rounded corners and cut into underlying subsoil. A pit feature truncated the trough along its southwest side. It was sub-circular in shape, measuring 2.11 m x 2.24 m and 0.5 m deep and had gradual break of slope top, step and sloping sides, gradual break of slope at base and flat base.

Located in the southwest area of burnt mound A was a pit lined with a stone structure. The pit was sub-triangular in shape and measured 0.95m long, 0.8 m wide and 0.34 m deep. A group of nine postholes and 60 stakeholes lay close to the pit.

Burnt mound B and its associated trough were located to the northwest of site, immediately to the northeast of Mound A. As with many burnt mound sites there was no evidence for a hearth associated with Mound B. Burnt mound B was roughly horse-shoe shaped in plan, dark black charcoal enriched silt with heat affected stones and charcoal.

The trough was sub-rectangular in shape with steep sides and a flat base, the break of slope at the top and base were steep. It measured 2.1 m x 1.55 m and 0.70 m deep and was lined on all four sides by substantial stones; the largest of which was 1.36 m x 0.16 m x 0.75 m, and the smallest 1.06 m x 0.1 x 0.69 m.

Burnt mound C and its associated trough were located to the south side of site. Burnt mound C consisted of a single layer of mound material This was sub-circular and consisted of loose red-yellow sandstone and mid brownish black charcoal enriched clayey silt, with inclusions of sub-angular heat shattered stones and occasional charcoal chunks, roots and flecks of wood. The mound material was spread over an area measuring 7.2 m x 8 m and 0.30 m deep. The deposit was patchy across the and small patches of material scattered across the peat suggest that originally the mound was more substantial, likely degraded by agricultural activity in the area after abandonment.

The associated trough was sub-oval located in the centre of where mound material was recorded. It cut into underlying peat and measured 1.4 m x 1.8 m and 0.38 m deep. Three badly degraded wooden planks were laid flat in the base, measuring 0.80 m x 0.49 m in total and with a depth of only 0.02 m. Trough 022 was truncated along its eastern side by field drain.

Burnt mound D was sub-circular in shape. The main deposits comprised compact dark brown black charcoal enriched silt, with heat shattered limestone and sandstone and frequent inclusions of charcoal. It measured 18 m x 16.8 m and 0.40 m deep and was the result of the accumulation of 8 separate burnt mound deposits

A sub-rectangular trough was located under the northwest of the mound. This was orientated northwest-southeast with rounded corners, sloping sides, flat base, and measuring 3.5 m x 1.7 m and 0.4 m deep. The trough was lined around the edges of the cut with sub-rounded and sub-angular sandstone, with an average size of 0.5 m x 0.3 m. The largest stone measured 1 m x 0.3 m. A timber plank was laid flat in the trough. This originally appeared to have been a single plank, but decay over time had broken it in to three pieces that, in total, measured 2.8 m x 0.60 m and 0.20 m deep.

Burnt mound E and its associated trough were located at the southern end of the site. Mound Material consisted of a single deposit of moderately compact charcoal rich dark grey black silty sand with heat-shattered stones. Mound E measured 15.60 m x 11.5 m, 0.30 m deep and lay over natural peat, which was approximately 0.15 m deep.

Trough 254 was located slightly to west of mound material 007, but not covered by it. The trough was rectangular in shape, orientated northeast to southwest and cut into underlying peat layer 102 and natural subsoil beneath. The worked wood remains of a possible trough lining, as well as a possible peg were located within the cut.

Mound F was northeast of burnt mound D. It consisted of a single sub-circular deposit of black silty clay with frequent charcoal and heat-shattered stone. A trough was located in the centre. This was oval in shape with rounded corners and sloping sides. The cut was lined with large stones, which consisted of ten stones, set on edge or end, with average measurements of 0.75 m x 0.80 m and 0.75 m deep. Three possible kneeling stones were located on the surface at the eastern end of the trough, likely to allow access to the trough, and two large thin stones were laid flat on the base

A series of field drains cut across the area, truncating all of the burnt mounds.

Specialist analysis

A total of 1587 charcoal identifications representing twelve wood taxa and weighing 195.4 grams were recorded (Appendix 8). Oak (Quercus sp.) dominates the assemblage, accounting for 37% (593 counts) followed by hazel (Corylus avellana) 30% (480 counts). Alder (Alnus glutinosa) made up 10% (157 counts) of the identified assemblage, with pomaceous woods (Maloideae spp.) 4% (123 counts), .willow (Salix sp.) 5% (70 counts), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) 4% (68 counts) and holly (Ilex aquifolium) 2% (35 counts). Species which accounted for 1% or less (20 counts or less) were also recorded, these include cherry-type (Prunus sp.), birch (Betula sp.), pine (Pinus sylvestris), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and elm (Ulmus sp.). The preponderance of oak charcoal from C197, C291 and C280, where the fragments were in large  chunks, displayed up to 20+ rings were classified as being possible burnt plank remains.

 

The charcoal assemblage compliments the worked wood collection, where oak was being brought to site for trough construction, the offcuts and debris of which served as a readily available source of firewood for fulacht fiadh activity from the Early to Late Bronze Age. Wood acquisition strategies at the site appear to favour oak, with the exception of Mound B, where a period of low oak supply may have influenced the use of ash in its place. Hazel featured strongly in Early to Late Bronze Age activity, becoming more prominent in the Middle Bronze Age. Alder increases during the Middle Bronze Age, while pomaceous woods more in the later Bronze Age.

 

The four anoxic deposits contained plant macrofossils in the form   of seeds and seed coats representing low lying vegetation common to damp disturbed ground, woodland and hedges (Appendix 8). The diversity and frequency of the plant remains was notable and they provide some insight into the local ground flora that existed at or close to the site. All identifiable seeds, drubes and nutlets were recorded, which made up 100% of the sample. In addition, the samples were also made up of woody detritus, rhizomes and monocotyledons that were difficult to identify at macro level.

 

The diversity of plant species was decent considering the size of the samples (1 litre), with the  plant species recorded representing low-lying flora (59%) and some woodland/scrub species (41%). The presence of tree species, such as alder and bramble/blackberry, supports a riverine environment with scrubby margins. The ground flora highlight areas of trampling, perhaps open clearings with access to marginal woodland.

 

A short monolith core was analysed to gain an understanding of the local vegetation history prior to the use phase of the excavated burnt mounds. The pollen record from Ballymakeery reveals little evidence for woodland clearance or anthropogenic activity prior to the use of the burnt mounds during the Middle/Late Bronze Age. During the Early Bronze Age periods the landscape around Ballymakeery appears to have been densely wooded with a low human presence. There was a significant change in the taxonomy of the local woodland around c.1600 cal BC with a large drop in Pinus, although whether this related to changing hydrological conditions and the growth of blanket peat is uncertain as no evidence for mire expansion is provided by the monolith.

Twenty-two samples of stone from burnt mound contexts across the N22 scheme were submitted to the Geochemistry Laboratory at Bristol University. This analysis enabled us to test the hypothesis that lipids originating from animal carcasses cooked in associated pits or troughs may be preserved on the burnt rocks. Three samples were submitted from Ballymakeery 2, which contained either trace or very low levels of lipids. The low lipid recovery from these samples may be a result of several factors. Pyrolithic technology is often associated with cooking, i.e. applying an indirect heat to roast, boil or steam food (Hawkes 2014). It may be that the samples containing trace lipids served different purposes than cooking and thus did not yield lipids, or that they were used for some form of cooking but that lipids were not preserved.

 

Analysis of insect remains identified that Ballymakeery 2 has one strong indicator of woodland, either structural or derived from woodland edge. The general environmental indications are of open, stagnant water with some waterside vegetation and a little dung.

The wood-lined troughs at Ballymakeery 2 were constructed of oak planks. One of the troughs included a possible section of wattle lining comprising of young hazel, alder, birch and pine wood. Some timbers had evidence of tool marking: where axe marks and facet impressions could be analysed, they revealed that flat metal axes (c.50mm wide) were used to cut and shape the larger wooden timbers. A series of unusual short deep axe marks (<30mm in blade width) was recorded from sample 5 (C.97), which seems to be more aesthetic than functional. The use of oak as the primary wood does imply that a wood selection bias was at play at Ballymakeery 2.

A bone fragment from Ballymakeery 2 was a small burnt fragment of flat bone from a small mammal, the small size of the sample precludes any in depth discussion.

Eleven lithics were recovered from the site. The dominance of quartz in the assemblage to the exclusion of all other materials is highly unusual but the fact that it was being deliberately used is highlighted by the presence of two cores and five flakes or flake fragments, one of which appears to have been crudely retouched.

In total two sherds of pottery were present in this assemblage. These were both small sherds of undecorated Pearlware, with one body sherd and one ringed base present. These were recovered from the upper fill (048) of a boundary ditch (047) and date to 1779 - 1820s.

A total of six stone objects were present in this assemblage, three of which were deemed non-archaeological following specialist analysis (E4911:067:001, E4911:111:002 and 003). The remaining objects include a whetstone (E4911:001:003), a rubbing stone (E4911:001:002) and a small angular rock fragment (E4911:111:001) with two concentric indented lines c 8 and 10 mm wide, with a third fine concentric groove above these. Specialist analysis has identified this as a small fragment of possible rock art.

Dating

Fifteen radiocarbon dates were returned from the six burnt mounds identified at Ballymakeery 2, with a combined overall date range from 2202 – 387 cal BC, and two unrelated dates of 5054-4901 cal BC and 2466-2233 cal BC. Further examination of the date ranges indicates that the site was occupied intermittently from the Middle Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age.

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