County: Roscommon Site name: Peak 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E005182
Author: Siobhan McNamara and Kevin Kearney
Site type: Charcoal-production pit
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 577267m, N 787888m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.839981, -8.345407
Peak 4 was excavated in advance of construction of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project in County Roscommon by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) for Roscommon County Council (RCC) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The site consisted of a charcoal-production pit located in boggy terrain. It was identified during Stage (i)c Test Excavations in Wetland/Scrub, carried out by AMS under Ministerial Direction (Direction No. A077, Registration No. E5070; Hardy 2021).
The pit at Peak 4 was sub-rectangular in plan, 0.65m long, 0.5m wide, 0.11m deep and had steep sides that broke sharply to a flat base. Its sides, base and the surface of the surrounding peat were fire-reddened from intense in-situ burning; the north side of the pit was truncated by a linear feature. The basal fill of the pit consisted of loose spongey black charcoal-rich peat 0.02m deep. This was overlain by a 0.09m-deep layer of loosely compacted mid-brownish-grey clayey peat containing occasional flecks of charcoal. A sample of oak charcoal from the upper fill returned an early medieval date of cal. AD 991–1115 (UBA-48072; 1020±20BP). The intensely scorched edge of the pit and the quantity of charcoal in its lower fill suggest that this may be the remains of a charcoal-production pit.
The east–west-orientated linear feature cutting the north side of this pit traversed the excavation area. This feature was 0.35m wide, 0.12m deep and had steep sides that broke gradually to a concave base. It was likely a post-medieval furrow or shallow drainage ditch.
A single artefact—a sherd of seventeenth- to twentieth-century brown-glazed red earthenware pottery—was recovered from topsoil during the investigation. Charcoal from the fill of the pit consisted exclusively of oak.
This report summary was submitted on behalf of its authors.
References
Hardy, C. 2021. N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project Stage (i)a, (i)b, (i)c Test Excavation, Stage (i)m Testing in Felled Forestry and Stage (i)f Townland Boundary Survey. Ministerial Direction No. A077, Registration No. E5070. Unpublished AMS report for TII and RCC.
Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS), Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare