EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Cork
the point of a copper-alloy stick-pin, hazelnut shells and charred seeds were among the finds
retrieved from these features.
A number of pits were excavated to the south of the oval structure inside the enclosure. A
large shallow oval pit (3m long and 0.32m deep) was found to contain cremated bone. This
pit was separated from a smaller pit that contained two charcoal-stained fills with inclusions
of slag, iron shavings, oxidized clay and cremated animal and human bone by a linear
arrangement of stakeholes. Two rectilinear dug features were excavated in the interior of the
enclosure. The first, 6.32m in length and 0.25–0.38m deep, contained four fills with
inclusions of slag, charcoal, stone (including two possible hone-stones) and cremated animal
and human bone. The second, 5m long, 1.2m wide and 0.6m deep, contained charcoal flecks
and stone.
Evidence for late medieval activity was limited and comprised an oval pit and three associated
stakeholes located towards the southern edge of the excavation. Charcoal from one of its fill
produced a date in the thirteenth to fifteenth century (see below).
Only a few fragments of cremated bone survived on the site due to the acidic nature of the
soils. The cremated bone represented those belonging to humans and medium- sized
mammals such as sheep/pig. Oat seeds were the most prevalent form of cereal grain with
less frequent amounts of barley and wheat and traces of charred ‘weed’ seeds. A small
quantity of metal slag was also excavated and might suggest limited metalworking on-site.
Fig. 70: Plan of Curaheen, Co. Cork (after Danaher & Cagney 2004).
135