2018:432 - Bealick 1, Cork

Excavation by Rubicon Heritage Ltd at Bealick 1, as part of the N22 Baile Bhuirne–Macroom Road Scheme (Lot 3) Archaeological Consultancy Services Contract, recorded the remains of a large slumped burnt mound, up to five troughs and associated metalled surfaces, well, pits, post-holes and stake-holes.

Prior to excavation the burnt mound at Bealick 1 appeared to be a widespread shallow mound of heat-shattered charcoal rich material. Preliminary test sections showed that it was deeper than expected, with mound material lying in a natural hollow in the slope. The burnt mound material accumulated at Bealick 1 measured 28 m north to south, 27.5 m east to west, with a maximum depth of 0.9 m. While located on a slope, overlooking low-lying ground the occupiers appeared to have used channels to feed water into trough features, along with using a natural spring located in the eastern part of the site.

Analysis of the burnt mound sections together with the radiocarbon dating evidence indicates that there were 3 distinct mounds at Bealick 1: Mound A in the south (Phase I). a central Mound B (Phase II) and Mound C (Phase III) to the north, with material accumulating along the uphill side of the southern mound prior to accumulation of the northern mound, although this was only evident in section. Waste mound material appears to have been thrown predominantly downhill with bands of material spreading across the slope. The southern mound accumulated first and then activity gradually moved uphill, with additional troughs being excavated uphill as mound material began to encroach on existing features. The lack of hill wash between accumulated layers would appear to suggest that the mound accumulated over the course of one single long-term occupation.

Five trough features were identified at Bealick 1, with numerous associated features, including stake-holes, post-holes, pits, hearth and a well. The troughs are approximately at the east, south, west and northern extents of the accumulated mounds, with a fifth slightly off-centre.

A total of 25 radiocarbon dates were obtained from charcoal and charred grains retrieved from a wide variety of the features excavated at Bealick 1. These indicated that the burnt mound activity recorded at the site spanned the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic through to the Late Bronze Age with a date range of 2830-2475 cal BC (4039±28 BP; SUERC-87716) to 926-818 cal BC (2734±26 BP; SUERC-87726) in three separate phases. Phase I covered the period 2830 - 2203 cal BC and dealt with the activity associated with Mound A. Phase II covered the period 2025 - 1458 cal BC and dealt with Mound B, which partially overlay Mound A. Phase III consisted of activity associated with Mound C and covered the period 1227 - 818 cal BC. Phase IV covered all post-mound activity on site, which was mainly agricultural activity and later levelling of the mound.

Charcoal analysis identified a variety of taxa showing a range of trees were used to fuel the burnt mound activities. Oak and hazel were the main trees used to fuel burnt mound activities across the periods of activity, with significant amounts of ash, willow, fruit tree-type and holly. Comparison of the identified taxa to tree-types present in the nearby semi-natural ancient woodlands of Prohus and Gearagh reveals that most of these trees occur within these woodland types, which indicates that these woodlands extended over a greater area during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic and Bronze Age and were exploited by these communities for wood fuel. Ring curvature information has demonstrated that trees were felled regularly for wood fuel to be used in burnt mound activity, especially oak and hazel. Branch wood was also utilised for fuel and is likely to have been used from felled trees, deliberate cutting of branches and the collection of dead wood from the woodland floor. The frequent recording of radial cracks in charcoal fragments across the analysed assemblages, suggests that green wood was also regularly used as wood fuel which implies that rather than storing fuel wood, trees were felled as needed to provide fuel for the burnt mound activity at Bealick 1. Charred cereal grains were only retrieved from two features, with a single barley sp. grain identified from a Late Bronze Age stake-hole and a small assemblage of 6-row hulled barley and arable weeds from a non-archaeological, probable modern tree-bowl.

The fragmented remains of larger timbers from timber lining (449) of Trough (075) were identified as oak heartwood as was a single possible stake fragment recovered from trough fill (496). The wood samples from (449) display evidence for radial conversion. Ring count was between 3 and 14 annual rings and the ring width was between 1 and 3mm, showing favourable growth, possibly in a clearing. While the assemblage was small, it did show the importance of oak as a construction material for trough construction at Bealick 1.