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Title Treckers through time: recent archaeological survey results from Co. Offaly, Ireland

Authors(s) McDermott, Conor

Publication date 2001-08

Publication information B. Raftery and J. Hickey (eds.). Recent Developments in Wetland Research

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Recent Developments

in Wetland Research

edited by Barry Raftery and

Joyce Hickey

Seandálaíocht

Department of Archaeology, University College, Dublin,Monograph Series, Vol. 2

WARP (Wetland Archaeology Research Project)Occasional Paper 14

2001

Front Cover: Derryoghil 28 trackway, Co. Longford, Ireland. Date 1524-1401 cal. BC (Photograph: B. Raftery)

Back Cover: Delegates to the WARP conference in Dublin (Photograph: David Jennings)

Published by: Department of Archaeology, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

First Published : 2001

Edited by: Barry Raftery & Joyce Hickey

Original Design: David Jennings

Layout: David Jennings, Caroline Murray & Conor McDermott

ISBN: 0-9539520-1-0 (Seandáláiocht: Mon 2)ISBN: 0-9519117-7-5 (WARP Occasional Paper 14)

Printed by: The Inkspot Ltd.

Copyright : Individual authors, Department of Archaeology, UCD and WARP

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any electronic,mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or oth-erwise without either the prior written consent of the publishers or a license permitting restricted copyingin Ireland issued by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, The Writers’ Centre, 19 Parnell Square,Dublin 1.

Recommended Citation: Raftery, B. and Hickey, J. (eds) 2001. Recent Developments in Wetland Research.

Seandáláiocht: Mon 2, Dept Archaeol, UCD and WARP Occ. Paper 14. Dublin:Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin.

13

McDermott

Chapter 2

Trekkers through time: Recentarchaeological survey results

from Co. Offaly, Ireland

Conor McDermott

IntroductionThe work of the Irish Archaeological WetlandUnit (IAWU) is primarily focused on surveyingthe raised bogs of the Irish midlands. In thisregion the State peat company, Bord na Móna,industrially exploits 85,000ha of peat for energy,horticulture and domestic fuel (Fig. 1). The mainbrief of the archaeological survey is to fieldwalkthis area, to identify archaeological sites and tofacilitate their protection under NationalMonuments legislation. Given the nature ofindustrial peatlands it is also important that thesites identified be recorded in sufficient detail togain some understanding of the structures in theevent they are destroyed before protection orpreservation.

The Bord na Móna bogs are cut by drains at c.15mintervals running the length of the bog, which canbe several kilometres. The fieldwalking systemused by the IAWU involves walking one out of twoof the drains, giving an interval of approximately30m.

This strategy has been used since 1991 and to datec.26,000ha have been covered and some 2,000archaeological sites have been identified. Theidentification of new sites remains the primaryobjective of the survey. This has required a skilledand experienced project team to identify the fullrange of extant sites, in particular the low-visibil-ity material.

Beyond the basic fieldwalking principles thestrategies, recording systems and targets of theIAWU are continually being revised and improved.

An increasing level of recording has enabled us torecognise and document the increasing complexityof the sites. However, this has not always beenrewarded with a greater understanding of thematerial and this issue will be addressed below.

The patterns that will be discussed in this paperdeal with the overall results of the survey ratherthan the details of individual sites. They are basedon current survey results from Co. Offaly, andLemanaghan bogs in particular, and may changeas further work is carried out. In this context, it isnecessary to recognise the limitations of the sur-vey in terms of research particularly in theabsence of an understanding of the chronology,classification and function of many of the sites.The IAWU has developed a set of criteria to beaddressed when documenting archaeological sitesin peatland prior to their destruction (Fig. 2): how-ever, such criteria cannot be addressed by surveyalone. This paper is intended to outline the natureof the material uncovered to date and the progressthat has been made in addressing some of thesecriteria.

Co. Offaly - site distribution anddensityThere are 64,000ha of peatland in Offaly, compris-ing the raised bogs and fens in the east and westas well as the blanket bog of the Slieve Bloommountains in the south. This represents one thirdof the land surface of the entire county, half ofwhich is owned by Bord na Móna. This is one of thelargest percentages for an Irish county.

Chapter 2

Trekkers through time: Recent archaeological survey results fromCo. Offaly, Ireland

Conor McDermott

Seandálaíocht 2

14

If the prehistory of Co. Offaly is studied from theperspective of the dryland monuments and arte-facts alone the evidence could easily suggest a rel-atively low level of human activity compared withother counties. The wetland archaeological sur-veys carried out in recent years go a long way inredressing this balance and show widespreadactivity over long periods of time.

The archaeological inventory of Co. Offaly record-ed 990 mainly dryland monuments from the coun-ty, whereas 966 wetland sites have been identifiedfrom the north-west of the county alone. We canonly presume that dryland areas were equallyexploited and that traces of dryland settlementremain elusive. The wetland sites not only provethe existence of dryland sites but can indicateareas where they are likely to be located.

One of the notable features of Raftery’s work inLongford was the identification and recording of aconsiderable number of sites in close association(Raftery 1996). This, for the first time, gave an

indication of the intensity of human activity inpeatlands. This pattern has continued to be seenin the surveys carried by out the IAWU and fur-ther complexes and clusters of sites have beenrecorded in other counties and in the Lemanaghanarea of Offaly in particular.

Lemanaghan is located towards the northwest ofthe county and was surveyed between 1993 and1997. The area is located north of the River Brosnaand takes its name from a large island of drylandlocated at the centre of the region. Bord na Mónaexploits 1,200ha of bog at Lemanaghan, which ispart of a larger area of wetlands in the region. TheIAWU surveys identified over 630 archaeologicalsites making this one of the highest densities ofwetland archaeology in the world. Figure 3 showsthe distribution of known archaeological sites inthe Lemanaghan complex where 50 primarilyEarly Medieval dryland sites are known, comparedwith over 1,100 sightings of archaeological mater-ial in the peatlands representing the 715 sitesalready mentioned (McDermott et al. 1998, 207).

50 kmBord na Mona bogsArchaeological surveys to 1998

Archaeological pilot survey Base map courtesy of Bord na Móna

Co. Offaly

Co. Longford

Co. Galway

Co. Tipperary

Co. Westmeath

Co. Roscommon

Co. Mayo

Co. Kildare

Co. Meath

Co. Laois

Figure 1. Distribution of Bord na Móna bogs in Ireland and extent of archaeological surveys to 1998

Two important new features have emerged inthese surveys that were not seen in earlier work.Firstly, clusters and complexes have now beenidentified far into the bog, sometimes up to a kilo-metre from the current dryland margin. Secondly,sites are increasingly being observed in close asso-ciation with deep stratigraphy. In these cases, likethe Bell-Beaker complex in Somerset (Coles andColes 1986, 81), activity appears to have beenongoing for a millennium or more. While the struc-tures do not directly replace each other they doshow recurring activity in the same small areasover long periods of time suggesting a near perma-nent presence in the bog. An example of this can beseen in Curraghalassa Bog where 140 sites wererecorded (Fig. 4). Many of the sites are very closetogether with successive horizons of archaeologicalmaterial visible in some drain faces. There are twosmall islands in the bog, c.200m apart, both lessthan 50m in diameter. Apart from these islandsthe nearest dryland is more than half a kilometreaway (Fig. 3). Around the eastern side of eachisland there are complexes with relatively deepstratigraphy. The example illustrated shows acomplex including 10 sites spread along a 20mlength of the drain face. The uppermost deposits atthe northern end consisted of a post-Medievalleather shoe and a short distance away the lastremains of a light hurdle panel. Wood is visible atmany levels along the drain face and was alsorecorded in the base of the drain. Twelve metresfurther along is a possible platform of roundwoodsdated to the late 6th or early 7th century AD(Fig. 5). This is one of seven very similar den-drochronological dates from oak timbers in thisbog. Eight metres further along and 80cm lowerwas another site from which a number of woodenartefacts were recovered. The stratigraphy of thedrain face suggested that these lower sites andartefacts were at least of late Iron Age date andthis was confirmed by a recently returned radio-carbon date of 196 BC -AD124 (Beta-118041).

A second example comes from Roscore Bog. Hereagain the sites are located c.500m from the dry-land and although the overall number of sites islower, the vertical density of the material isrepeated with almost 1m of stratigraphy recorded

(Fig. 6). The upper site in the section dates tobetween 381 BCand AD 22 (Beta-118033) and suc-cessive horizons of wood were recorded below this.The depth of the peat strata suggests the lowestvisible horizons date to the Late Bronze Age, againindicating a degree of activity in this location overa number of centuries.

The densities of some complexes mean that it isdifficult to discern one site from another. Theseobservations are in contrast with a common per-ception of human activity on bogs being both infre-quent and limited. Instead we can recognise a pat-tern of recurring activity representing a continuityof both presence and exploitation on parts of thebog surface.

As referred to above, the types of sites recordedfrom surveys in Co. Offaly have caused consider-able difficulty in terms of classification and func-tion. Linear trackways are surprisingly uncommonwith the majority of sites being recorded at a sin-gle location. In Curraghalassa Bog, of the 150archaeological sightings, 93 per cent were desig-nated as individual sites or complexes.

Of the 960 sites recorded to date in Co. Offaly, nonehas been of transverse roundwoods or planks,except in two cases where these have been incorpo-rated into multi-period roads such as in Bloomhill

15

McDermott

Nature of structure/deposit

Association with other sites

Local environmental conditions of the site

Regional environmental context

Dating

Surrounding archaeological landscape

Classification

Function

Objectives in the Mitigation of Wetland Sites

Figure 2. Questions to be posed during the mitiga-tion of archaeological sites in peatland. In multiplesite projects it may be sufficient to infer the answerto some questions from adjacent sites

Seandálaíocht 2

16

LEMANAGHAN

km 30

St. Manchan’sChurch

Ri v

e r Br o s n

a

BELLAIR

Lemanaghan’Island’

CorhillBog

KilnagarnaghBog

Bellair SouthBog

Bellair NorthBog

TumbeaghBog

KillaghintoberBog

CastletownBog

CurraghalassaBog

LemanaghanBog

DerrynagunBog

N

* County Offaly Recorded Monuments and Places (National Monuments Service, 1995)** Geological Survey of Ireland 1" Map

Archaeological sites identified by the IAWU 1993-1997Lemanaghan 76, multiphase roadArchaeological sites from Recorded Monuments*

Dryland**

Wetlands**

Bord na Mona property boundaries & extent of IAWU surveys

R.Brosna Co. Offaly

Slieve B

looms

Fig. 4

Figure 3. Lemanaghan Bog complex, Co. Offaly. The map shows known archaeological sites on dryland andthe results of peatland surveys 1993-1997

17

McDermott

and Derrynagun Bogs (McDermott 1995; O’Carroll1997)1. Where linear sites occur, they are often sin-gle plank walkways that are being identified inincreasing numbers. In the Blackwater Survey,which included bogs in the northwest of Co. Offaly(IAWU 1995), 44 per cent of sites were classifiedeither as worked wood in situ or as puddle toghers.The first of these terms is a very general descriptiveclassification and the second is a hypothesis basedon the assumption that many of the small sites crosssmall wetter areas on the bog surface.

‘Worked wood in situ’ sites have made up 30 percent of all sites identified by recent surveys. Thesesites typically consist of less than 10 pieces of woodwhich show evidence of having been worked orplaced in the bog but which have no apparent func-tion (Fig. 7). The example illustrated is fromLemanaghan and shows a large worked wood in situ

Curraghalassa Bog

17a

15a

27a

13a

42a

16a

26a41a

24a

18a

23a

25a

29a

11a

1a

12a 38a37a

48a

36a

2a30a33a

39a

35a

19a

40a

32a

3a

4a

10a34a

47a

28a 5a

9a

43a8a

6a

31a

22a

21a

171a

20a125a

156a155a

2257

0022

5750

2258

00

NGR 215900 215950 216000

siderite

Bord na Mna drain

siderite

0 100m

island

NNAT. GRID

Figure 4. Detail of plot of Curraghaglassa Bog, Lemanaghan Works, Co. Offaly showing a high density ofarchaeological sites including areas of deep stratigraphy arranged around the western side of a small island

Figure 5. Platform structure from Curraghalassa Bog(above) and detail of the lid of Iron Age woodenvessel from an adjacent site (below)

1 Since this article was written, a substantial transverse plank roadway was discovered in Clonad Bog, Derrygreenagh Works, Co. Offaly

Seandálaíocht 2

18

site. Future research will have to address thesesites as their numbers seem to far exceed whatmight be expected from occasional randomdeposits or dumps of material.

A number of strategies are being employed by thesurvey in recent years to address this and otherquestions. The field methodologies and recordingsystems employed have been refined to allow forgreater discrimination between individual sitesand clusters of sites. In conjunction with thearchaeological record the palaeoenvironmentalcontext of each site is recorded by peat type, peatstratigraphy and humification levels. In selectedcases these field records have been augmentedwith laboratory-based Coleopteran studies. Thesestudies are being combined in an attempt to exam-ine, among other things, the relative chronology ofindividual sites, rates of site construction and thecontinuity of exploitation of a bog surface.

Models developed in other parts of the country,and particularly in Co. Longford (Raftery 1996), donot transfer well to Co. Offaly. In the absence ofexcavation, the interpretation of these sites is verydifficult and they can only be broadly categorisedby structural type.

Wooden platforms have already been mentionedand small numbers of these are also being identi-fied in the surveys. This is a difficult classificationto apply in areas where most sites are non-linearand it has been used with caution. In generalthese are substantial structures, with no apparentorientation, which have the appearance of a pre-pared surface and with one or more recordeddimensions not typical of trackway dimensions.The precise function or functions of these sites

have not been established although uses such asresource exploitation bases, temporary habitationsand ritual foci have been considered.

New and uncommon forms of trackway construc-tion have also been recognised. One of these wasrecorded at the upper level of the complex atRoscore referred to above (Fig. 6). Light, evenlysized longitudinal roundwoods are supported bysimilarly sized transverses and secured by pegs.Although only a 1m length of the site was exposed,its form was sufficiently uniform to suggest that itwas a deliberate design. In Curraghmore Bog inBlackwater Works the IAWU excavated a shortlength of plank walkway (OF-CHM 0016) support-ed by transverse timbers in which the ends of theplanks were mortices and secured together withpegs (Fig. 8; IAWU 1995, 34-7). Three similartrackways have been recorded at Dromalught, Co.Kerry (NMI, IA/113/64), Corleck, Co. Cavan (NMI,L1937:2) and Creggane, Co. Roscommon (Golden1992), but none of these sites was supported bytransverse timbers. A date of 1750-1530 cal. BC(GrN-14724) for the Dromalught track is very sim-ilar to the Curraghmore date at 1685-1435 cal. BC(GrN-21262). Thus far the best structural parallelfor this site is Trackway XVII (Bou) in southeastDrenthe, The Netherlands (Casparie 1984, 70-1),which dates to the same period.

In general, it is clear that there was a lot of activ-ity in the Offaly bogs in the prehistoric and earlyhistoric periods. Regrettably, we often do not knowthe nature of that activity as many of the sites donot conform to the predetermined functions suchas routeways or defined ritual areas.

It is difficult to say whether many of the trackwaysprovided access to the bog or formed part of a routeto the other side. It appears that they were oftenbuilt only on those parts of the bog that were themost difficult or dangerous to cross by foot. Evenwhere people crossed or exploited the bogs as partof their everyday activities it is possible that thislandscape held special significance at other times.Some of the few platform structures that havebeen identified in bogs may prove to be placeswhere special activities outside the everyday

Figure 6. Stratified sites in Roscore Bog with a track-way of longitudinal roundwoods exposed

19

McDermott

realm occurred. However, this is as yet difficult toprove in the absence of excavation of these sitetypes or the presence of associated artefacts in anon-functional context.

Of those artefacts and artefact types that havebeen considered to represent ritual activity ordeposits, none has been recorded in association

with a site during the survey. A review of theOffaly peatlands in prehistory has shown thatwhile there are local differences within the countywhen compared with the national pattern, a largenumber of probably ritually deposited artefactshave previously been recovered (McDermott 1998).This would seem to indicate that either the surveystrategies employed to date have been biasedagainst artefact recovery or that there may havebeen a segregation of activities on the bog surface.The survey strategy has been successful in identi-fying discrete archaeological features and objectsand it is not likely that all visible artefacts of thistype have been overlooked. The most probableexplanation for this disparity is that such activitytook place in areas of the bog not covered by thesurvey and in the marginal zones in particular. Inthese areas the peatlands tend to have beenreclaimed in recent centuries or the peat is tooshallow to be exploited commercially.

ChronologyAs has already been implied, the dates of most ofthe sites identified by the survey cannot beinferred and in an attempt to overcome this prob-lem a dating programme has been incorporatedinto the survey strategy. Currently there are 62dates available for peatland sites in Offaly, ofwhich most have been commissioned by the IAWU.Within this set there are patterns emerging thatwarrant comment. However, it must be borne inmind that less than 7 per cent of identified siteshave been dated and the dates cover a wide rangeof periods.

The strategy adopted is very simple. It involvesthe dendrochronological dating of almost all sitesthat produce suitable samples and the selection ofsites for radiocarbon dating using a weighted grad-ing scheme (Fig. 9). This is intended to minimisebiases in the dated sites so that both types of datescan be compared.

Baillie has shown that the pattern of den-drochronological dates from archaeological sites isnon-random, despite the near random nature ofthe sample set (Baillie 1993, 10). He has also sug-

Figure 7. Worked wood in situ from CurraghalassaBog, site number OF-LEM-0151

Figure 8. Reconstruction drawing of Curraghmore16, Co. Offaly based on excavation of the plankwalkway dated to 1685-1485 BC (GrN-21262)

Seandálaíocht 2

20

gested that this pattern has a relationship to thenarrowest-ring events recorded in the Irish oakchronology (Baillie 1995, 90).

Prehistoric periodIn Fig. 10 the dates are plotted by frequency at a25-year interval with the centre date of a 2 sigmacalibration used for radiocarbon dates which areshown in grey. The Offaly dendrochronologicaldates also show a very good correlation with the

narrowest-ring events although there are gaps inthe correlation at 207 and 44 BC. Of the five IronAge radiocarbon dates, three fall within this gen-eral period and these are matched by den-drochronological dates from Co. Longford. Thissuggests that phases of construction indicated byradiocarbon dates may be useful in the interpreta-tion of tree-ring events even if it is a less precisetool than dendrochronology.

In terms of the overall development of the wetlandsites in Co. Offaly, the earliest example recorded isfrom Boora where a sub-peat Mesolithic encamp-ment dating to between 7500 and 7000 BC wasexcavated by Ryan (1984). Although not a wetlandsite at the time of its occupation it is the earliestsite from areas that are wetlands today. This siteshows an early presence in the landscape which,surprisingly, is not reflected in wetland structuresuntil the 16th century BC. This contrasts with theLongford examples where a slow but consistentrate of trackway construction through theNeolithic and Early Bronze Age periods wasrecorded with nearly all sites occurring in Corleatownland (Fig. 11). Three of the earliest Offalysites are single-plank walkways, two of whichwere built using very large timbers. Some of thesesites have been traced across much of the width ofthe bog and one already mentioned atCurraghmore in Blackwater Bog (OF-CHM-0016)is estimated to have been almost 1km long. Arecently excavated example from Derryville Bog in

Criteria for Radiocarbon Dating Selection

Artefact/associated artefact

Excavated

Geographic location/distribution

Investigated

Other research

Peat stratigraphy/samples

Record quality

Site type

Wood identification

Woodworking

1628BC 1159BC 207BC 44BC 540AD

Num

ber

of s

ites

2000BC 1500BC 1000BC 500BC 0 AD500 AD1000 AD1500 AD2000

Radiocarbon

Narrowest-ring events(Baillie 1995)

Dendro

Total number of dates = 62

Frequency of site construction for peatland sites from Co. Offaly at 25-year intervals

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Figure 10. Frequency of site construction dates for peatland sites from Co. Offaly plotted at 25-year intervals.Radiocarbon dates are plotted according to the centre point of the 2 sigma calibrated range

Figure 9. Criteria used in the selection of sites forradiocarbon dating. Sites are scored against eachcriterion to avoid biases in the radiocarbon dataset

21

McDermott

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7

Seandálaíocht 2

22

Co. Tipperary shows similar characteristics(Casparie and Gowen 1998, 31). These sites con-trast with many of the later examples in that theyare coherent linear features.

Two of these earlier sites have been dated by den-drochronology and form part of a cluster of Irishdates for sites from wet contexts clustering around1500 BC. Baillie and Brown have suggested thatthis building phase occurred because conditionswere drier than usual, allowing sites to be con-structed (Baillie and Brown 1996, 400); a similarpattern during the later Bronze Age is discussedbelow. In Longford, the rate of site constructionaccelerates after 1600 BC where the greatest con-centration of dates of all site types is between 1600BC and 900 BC. In Offaly there is a marked hia-tus with a single site recorded from Tumbeagh Bogat c.1300 BC. It is still unclear whether thisdecrease in site numbers is a product of the highproportion of dendrochronological dates or reflectsa real decline in site construction. During thisperiod certain artefact types, in particular bronzedirks and rapiers, were almost exclusively deposit-ed in wet contexts indicating the increased impor-tance of such areas for votive offerings (Cooneyand Grogan 1994, 139). In this regard also, the Co.Offaly bogs are strikingly underrepresented asneither of these two artefact types has yet beenfound (McDermott 1998, 16).

Following the narrowest-ring event at 1159 BC(Baillie 1995, 77), there is a dramatic increase inthe number of sites and in particular in den-drochronological dates between c.1100 and 900BC. The national pattern of construction is simi-lar to that seen around 1500 BC and similar rea-sons have been advanced to explain the increase(Baillie and Brown 1996, 400). In Offaly thisincrease is coupled with the appearance of a num-ber of wetland settlement sites and two dates fromthe Clonfinlough settlement site are included inthe set of dates. Baillie and Brown have pointedout that the building of Clonfinlough and otherstructures around the country suggest that cli-matic conditions, and as a consequence the bogs,were drier than they had been. The high quality ofpreservation on these settlement sites indicates

that the areas became wetter again, perhaps after900 BC, which protected the sites. An inundationis also evident from the lake deposits covering theBallinderry 2 settlement in Co. Offaly, although itis not as closely dated as the others are. The enddate for the occupation of the Clonfinlough site isthe latest in this cluster and the site seems to havebeen occupied for perhaps 30 years. The short lifeof the site may be due to its construction at the endof a period where the conditions were favourable.If the period was indeed drier, then the increasedconstruction of trackways may indicate that therewere other times when many bogs were too wet tocross.

A low number of Iron Age sites show a significantdecrease in site construction in the Offaly peat-lands after the Late Bronze Age period of concen-trated activity. This is followed by a markedincrease in site numbers early in the historic peri-od from the late 6th century AD. This hiatus inconstruction is closely matched in a set of over100 radiocarbon and dendrochronological datescompiled by Raftery (1996, 423). Most of the datesare from sites in Co. Longford but dates fromother areas support the pattern. These dates trailoff markedly after 900 BC and there is a gapbetween the end of the 2nd century BC and the6th century AD. This interval is also present indating from other types of archaeological sites.Baillie’s work has shown that ‘no archaeologicaltimbers, dateable by dendrochronology, belong tothe more than six centuries between the dates 95BC and 550AD’ (Baillie and Brown 1996, 395).The number of sites that have been dated byradiocarbon far exceeds the number of thosedated by dendrochronology and yet the pattern isstill substantially maintained. The degree towhich this set of dates is geographically biased bythe inclusion of large numbers of dates fromCo. Longford and west Offaly remains to be deter-mined. However, the current evidence suggeststhat whatever caused this hiatus also lead to theconstruction of all types of sites in bogs as well assites in other wet contexts which use large tim-bers in their construction. In this respect, theOffaly dates are clearly reflecting trends on amuch wider scale.

23

McDermott

Historic periodIn a recent study of Irish ringforts, Stout has sug-gested that apart from the avoidance of peatlandsin the construction of these sites, there was fur-ther zoning within the landscape (1997, 107). In astudy that included the Lemanaghan area henoted that the ecclesiastical sites were in a bandalong routeways on the lower land close to theriver Brosna. The ringforts, and particularly thehigh-status sites, were at a remove from the com-munication routes along the river and were situ-ated on higher ground. The recent surveys of thebogs help to reinforce the model of low-lying route-ways in a zone on both sides of the Brosna.However, many of the areas of higher ground out-side this zone are separated by bogs that have alsoproduced large numbers of sites including thosediscussed above (Fig. 3). This suggests that whilethe secular sites were not always located on mainarteries, they were fully connected with the com-munication routes in the region.

The site of the monastery at Lemanaghan is locat-ed on a large dryland island surrounded by bog.To approach the site from any direction wouldhave required crossing more than 1km of bogsand other wetlands. St Manchan’s church on theisland, and the monastery which developedaround it, were founded by the saint some timebefore the death of the first abbot in AD665(Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 40). A large number ofsites have been recorded from the bogs surround-ing the island and a group of dendrochronologicaldates ranges from AD578 to AD684. Althoughmost of the dates are suffixed by ‘or later’, 11 ofthe 14 dates are around AD626 or earlier. Thisclearly indicates that the bogs around the island,and presumably the island itself, formed part ofan extensive communications network prior tothe recorded foundation of the monastery. Suchearly ecclesiastical sites are often portrayed asisolated in location and the Lemanaghan churchwould appear to contradict this idea.Alternatively, since there are no recorded EarlyMedieval secular sites on the island with whichthe trackways might have communicated, thepossibility of an even earlier church foundationmust be considered.

The dating evidence suggests a decline in the con-struction of sites after the 7th century AD.However, a degree of continued human activity inthe peatlands is indicated by the artefactual andstratigraphic evidence. One reason for the declinein the number of sites appears to be the adoptionand maintenance of primary routes through someof the bogs. Two sites in particular show this pat-tern. The first is in Derrynagun Bog to the east ofLemanaghan island. A narrow plank walkwaywas built between the island and the dryland tothe east in 653±9AD (Q9281). A series of four sub-stantial roads were later built directly on top ofthe earlier one using gravel, flagstones andplanks to create a wide surface (McDermott andO’Carroll 1997, 46-7). The final phase of construc-tion was some time in the 13th century. On thewestern side of the island there is a similar sitewhich appears to be a connecting part of the route.The decline in the use of the road may correspondwith the decline of the church site after a period ofprosperity when the 11th century crozier and 12thcentury Shrine of St Manchan were associatedwith the site (Ó Flóinn 1994, 16). Portions of thecrozier were found in the Bord na Móna bog to thenorth of the island, further demonstrating therelationship between the church and the bog. Thispattern was also seen in a similar structure atBloomhill Bog in Co. Offaly. That road is reputed-ly related to the monastic site at Clonmacnoiseand it also went out of use in the 13th century,although it has been argued that its primary func-tion was as a regional communications route(McDermott 1995, 66).

ConclusionsThis summary account of recent work undertakenin the Irish midlands is intended to show the valueand potential of archaeological surveys beyond theaccumulation of site descriptions. The first princi-ple for the peatland surveys currently beingundertaken is to document the nature of thearchaeological record and the threats facing it.Peatlands, although at considerable risk, areamong the least documented and least understoodarchaeological landscapes in Ireland. As a result, it

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Excavations in the Mountdillon Bogs, Co. Longford, 1985-1991, 395-402. Trans. Irish Archaeol.

Wetland Unit 3. Dublin: Crannóg Publications.

Breen, T.C. 1988. Excavation of a roadway at Bloomhill bog, County Offaly. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 88C, 321-

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is important to promote the potential of Irish peat-land archaeology and to highlight areas ofresearch that cannot be realised within the limita-tions of the survey. To this end, the IAWU surveysare designed for use in the development of a

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