Excavation — miscellaneous in Ballyadam (barrymore By.)

In low-lying wet ground. Five pits and one post-hole were discovered in 2007 during archaeological monitoring in advance of the construction of an industrial development. The five pits were located in close proximity to each other and the post-hole was situated c. 0.15m to the E. Two of the pits had lenses of charcoal-enriched soil and oxidised clay in their fills and, according to Cleary (pers. comm.), it appeared that the material was dumped into the pits from activity elsewhere and did not represent in situ burning. The two pits were conjoined (overall L 1.6m N-S) and were probably dug at the same time. Burnt animal bone, a stone axehead fragment and a shaped stone were recovered from one of these pits. A thin layer of sandy clay extended across both pits and covered the charcoal-enriched lens and abutted the oxidised clay lens of one of the pits. Charcoal from the first pit yielded a C14 determination of AD 88-178 cal. Charcoal from the basal fill of the second pit returned a C14 determination of AD 94-231 cal. A layer (T 0.05-0.08m) of oxidised clay and charcoal occurred on the S lip of the latter pit and was interpreted as in situ burning. Of the other three pits, one (0.62m; max. D 0.20m) had a fill of charcoal-enriched soil with minute burnt bone fragments and two were of similar size (av. diam. 0.60m) and had a charcoal-enriched stony soil fill. The post-hole (diam. 0.12m; D 0.08m) was circular in plan. (pers. comm. Rose Cleary) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009