What is recorded here

Thirty-five centuries before the relief road cut through Mitchelstown, a shallow circular pit held charcoal from hazel and alder. It sat among nearly a hundred similar marks, suggesting a busy place where people dug, burned and remembered. The pit is small, but it belongs to a crowded landscape of human activity.

Archaeological excavation during the construction of the N8 Mitchelstown relief road uncovered a circular, shallow pit (0.4m x 0.33m; D 0.01m), with gradually sloping sides and concave base, which contained a charcoal-rich silt fill. Some of the charcoal was identified as hazel/alder and a radiocarbon date of 1885-1689 cal. BC (UB-6720) was returned from charcoal retrieved from the fill of this pit (Sutton 2006e, 9, 11). The pit occurs in a concentration of almost 100 pits, post-holes and stake-holes (CO019-172----). Two similar pits (CO019-178----; CO019-179----) were located 1.7m to the ENE and c. 1m to the N, respectively. A similarly charcoal-rich pit (CO019-175----) and a pit-burial (CO019-174----) were located c. 100m to the S. (Sutton 2006e, 11, 70; 2007d, 69-70) 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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