10 Archaeological and Cultural Heritage

10.12 Bogland

There is an area of bog contained within the study area to the south of Monasterevin. The location of smaller areas of bog or waterlogged, highly organic soils should be noted in the more detailed phases of study for this proposed road scheme. Bogs or water-logged areas are frequently rich sources of archaeology and their exceptional capability in the preservation of remains makes them a unique archaeological resource.

The waterlogged conditions provide an anaerobic environment which is instrumental in the preservation of organic remains and most frequently, in archaeological terms, of wooden trackways or toghers (KD026-014, KD027-001). The practice of laying down wooden trackways or causeways across wet areas and bogs to enable people to get from one side to another in reasonable safety is known from as early as the 4th Millennium BC. Trackways vary in form from simple deposition of brushwood on the ground surface to large-scale constructions substantial enough to carry wheeled vehicles (Raftery 1990, 4). Their construction is thought to be dependent on the conditions of the area itself (i.e. how wet conditions are) as well as other factors. In addition, archaeological sites such as crannogs, fulachta fiadh and sites of votive offering are typically found in or near wet, water logged regions. A more gruesome aspect of wetland archaeology is the eighty or so human bodies which have been recovered from bogs throughout the country over the past two centuries. Taking a very general rate of 1m of peat build-up per millennium, it is possible that the pockets of peat may contain the archaeological remains of local peoples, from the earliest time of bog formation.