Metalworking site in Kilrussane

This metalworking site was excavated in 2001 in advance of the construction of the N8 Glanmire-Watergrasshill Bypass and comprised five bowl furnaces and a possible forging pit. The furnaces (diam. 0.35-0.45m; max. D 0.16m), which were all truncated, were filled with charcoal-rich deposits and iron slag inclusions and most of them were clay-lined. Analysis of the metallurgical waste indicated that the furnaces were used to smelt iron blooms from bog ore. Two of the furnaces were radiocarbon dated to between 352-42 cal. BC, placing the metalworking site firmly in the Irish Iron Age. According to the excavator (Sherlock 2005a, 18), metallurgical waste analysis indicated that the features may have represented a single season of metalworking activity and this suggestion is supported by the radiocarbon dates returned. Another metalworking site (CO064-175----) was situated c. 530m to the NE. (Sherlock 2003f, 46; Sherlock 2005a) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009