This volume is another in Transport Infrastructure Ireland's heritage monograph series, making the results of excavations in advance of road developments accessible to a wide audience.
The book is divided into two sections. The first is comprised of descriptions of 24 sites that were excavated along the road schemes; these reports are arranged in alphabetical order by the townland name. The second section aims to bring these sites alive by discussing what we can learn about the lives of those who used and inhabited these landscapes.
Chapter 2 describes the excavations in some detail, covering the sites and artefacts. The excavation reports are arranged alphabetically by townland, with activity at each site discussed chronologically. Each report includes plans of the excavation, images of key artefacts and occasional reconstruction drawings of how a building or site may have appeared. Most of the excavated activity dated to the prehistoric period, with some early and late medieval occupation. The prehistoric sites range from Mesolithic fishing and processing sites to Neolithic houses and ritual timber circles. The early medieval sites included a clifftop fort and a workshop producing bronzed bells. Later medieval settlement was evident at several sites, particularly with cob built buildings at Gortnahown.
Chapter 3 provides a synthesis of what was found and what it means for our understanding of the area. The first section of the chapter discusses the evidence for settlement across north County Cork, this is divided by period. Interestingly, the majority of Neolithic houses in county Cork were found on this section of the road scheme. While there was significant evidence for iron age activity, such as iron smelting and fulachta fia, there was little indication of the dwelling of the inhabitants. The discovery of an early medieval unenclosed settlement at Gortnahown helps to deepen our understanding of settlement patterns in the area, while the beehive construction of the souterrain at Ballynacarriga raises the question of connections between Cork and Meath. The cob buildings of Gortnahown expand the corpus of late medieval cob houses and suggests that we're more common than previously thought. The final sections of this chapter are a discussion of what the artefacts, bone, and environmental data can tell us about life and the landscape in the past.
As with all previous volumes in the series, this book provides an excellent overview of the excavations along this road project. The discoveries make important contributions to the wider knowledge of all periods. This volume departs from the normal format of the series to include a useful discussion about the sites in the wider context, drawing parallels with similar sites excavated within county Cork and elsewhere in Ireland. This is a very welcome addition to the series and increases the value of this book.
The volume can be accessed online via the Digital Repository of Ireland.