County: Cork Site name: Cappagh East 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004915
Author: John O’Connor, Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd
Site type: Charcoal-production pits and burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 520952m, N 577715m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.945910, -9.149835
Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Cappagh East 2 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.
The excavated features consisted of two charcoal production pits, a burnt mound and trough, three small spreads, a cluster of a pit, post-hole, three stake-holes and an isolated pit.
The burnt mound and associated trough were the earliest dated activity recorded on site (see Dating below). Both were truncated by the later insertion of a field boundary ditch and bank. The mound itself measured 10 m NE-SW, 9 m NW-SE. The trough consisted of a sub-rectangular cut, orientated from NE to SW, with a gradual break of slope at the top and base, moderately sloping sides and an irregular base. It was filled entirely with burnt mound material.
A cluster of features, which consisted of a pit, post-hole and three stake-holes, was found to the southeast of the burnt mound. In the absence of stratigraphic relationships, diagnostic finds or radiometric dates, these features are assumed to be related to the burnt mound and have been placed in the same phase of activity.
Two charcoal production pits were also excavated on-site to the southeast of the burnt mound and related features. These were of a similar size and shape, rectangular in plan and approximately 2.2 m by 1.25 m by 0.35 m deep. Both contained charcoal rich lower fills, dominated by oak, with overlying silt.
Specialist analysis
Just two samples contained plant macrofossils – stake-hole (017) was found to contain <5 charred seeds of black bindweed, a weed of disturbed ground associated with arable fields. The exact nature of this material in a stake-hole is not unusual but is difficult to fully contextualise and is most likely re-deposited material from another source.
An organic sample identified from a deposit under the burnt mound (028) contained a selection of plant communities which represent damp grassland/meadow and may simply represent the type of low-lying vegetation that existed at the site at the time of the burnt mound construction.
A total of 594 charcoal identifications representing eight wood taxa and weighing 61.3 grams were recovered and identified from the features analysed. Oak and hazel dominated the assemblage from the burnt mound features with lesser quantities of birch, pomaceous fruitwoods, elm, cherry type and ash. The assemblage from the charcoal production pits was dominated by oak. The majority of the charcoal identified contained between 2 and 10 annual growth rings and were classified as being from predominantly larger branchwood. In the case of pomaceous fruitwood charcoal from pit (007) the fragments were classified as being from smaller branchwood (Appendix 6).
Dating
A total of six radiocarbon dates were obtained for the site at Cappagh East 2. Samples of cherry, hazel and maloideae charcoal from the trough, burnt mound and an associated pit and post-hole indicated that the burnt mound activity on the site took place during the Middle/Late Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age periods, with an overall date range of 1207–848 BC. Samples of ash and maloidae charcoal from the charcoal production pits returned late medieval dates 1161-1261 cal AD (2σ) (SUERC-86089) and 1330-1447 cal AD (2σ) (SUERC-86538).
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