What is recorded here

Excavation in County Cork, Ireland in 2005 revealed a small Early Bronze Age pit dating from 2458 to 2151 cal. BC. The stone-lined hole measured one by 1.1 metres across and twenty-two centimetres deep, holding five distinct layers, twenty-five pieces of worked flint, seventy-five pottery sherds and a fragment of a polished stone axe. Most of the flint showed burning, suggesting a brief episode of knapping beside a fire rather than a long workshop. Three Beaker vessels emerged from the sherds, two European Bell Beakers and one domestic Irish Beaker decorated with horizontal herringbone rows. The pit is small enough to fit inside a modern kitchen, yet it preserved a moment when flint, clay and fire shared the same hands.

Excavation in 2005 in advance of the construction of the Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass (N8/M8) revealed the remains of an Early Bronze Age pit (2458-2151 cal. BC). This stone-lined pit (1m x 1.1m x 0.22m) was circular in plan and contained five distinct archaeological layers. Twenty-five pieces of worked flint and 75 sherds of pottery were recovered from one charcoal-rich layer within the pit. The flint artefacts (flakes, cores, blade fragments and split pebble fragments) were interpreted as representing just one short episode of flint knapping. The majority of the worked flints showed signs of burning. Three Beaker vessels were represented in the sherds of pottery recovered from the pit. Two of these were identified as European Bell Beakers, or Wessex/Middle Rhine type. The third, a domestic Irish Beaker, consisted of an overall herringbone motif arranged in horizontal rows. A fragment of a polished stone axe was also recovered from the same fill of the pit. (O'Donoghue 2006; Kiely 2006, 54-7) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009

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