Derryville Bog Track Cluster Extension (Littleton–Templemore North)
Derryville North Tracks · Littleton Bog Causeway North · Tipperary Bog Cluster N
Neolithic to Iron Age consecutive·North Tipperary bog-edge farmers·🇮🇪 County Tipperary North, Derryville–Littleton bog, 6 km S of Templemore, Ireland
About
About Derryville Bog Track Cluster Extension (Littleton–Templemore North)
Northern extension (95 m asl) of the Derryville–Littleton–Borris bog trackway cluster, Europe's densest bog trackway concentration (40+ tracks 2400 BCE–700 CE), 6 km south of Templemore, County Tipperary, Ireland. Extension adds 3 tracks: TV-41 (Neolithic brushwood 2450 BCE, 42 m), TV-42 (Early Bronze wattle hurdle 1750 BCE, 38 m oak weave on ash posts), and TV-43 (Iron Age plank 220 BCE, 56 m transverse oak) on north edge of Littleton bog lobe before Toar Peat formation.
9 m is collection type-site for experimental reconstruction at UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology. 8 m raised bog; milled peat cut exposed TV-42 in 2011 Bord na Móna drain. Pollen at TV-41 alder fen before raised bog. Near Roscrea iron furnace goaf.
Why it mattersThird-lobe extension completing 40-track megacluster chronology 2450 BCE–700 CE; TV-42 experimental type-specimen.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01TV-41 fen vs bog phase dating
Theories
- 01Iron Age TV-43 vs earlier ritual vs functional shift
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.2450 BCE TV-41; c.1750 BCE TV-42; c.220 BCE TV-43
- Period
- Neolithic to Iron Age consecutive
- Culture
- North Tipperary bog-edge farmers
- Builders
- Derryville north community successive
- Purpose
- Sequential fen-to-peat crossings of Littleton north arm to Templemore esker
- Abandoned
- c.100 BCE (last buried)
- Rediscovered
- 2011 Bord na Móna TV-42 exposure; 2016 UCD cluster synthesis
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2011
Bord na Móna drain exposes TV-42 wattle 38 m
2016
UCD synthesizes 40-track Derryville cluster + north extension
On the ground
Structures & features
52.7800° N · 7.8800° W · 95 m · 2 mapped features
Derryville Wattle Panel TV-42
panel2.2×0.9-m oak weave panel on ash posts 38 m at TV-42 1750 BCE
52.7810° N · 7.8790° WDerryville Brushwood Track TV-41
trackway42-m brushwood corduroy at alder fen base 2450 BCE under 2.8 m peat
52.7790° N · 7.8810° W