Building to Disaster: Prehistoric Trackway Construction, Palaeohydrological Change and Bog Bursts at Derryville Bog, Ireland
by
Benjamin R. Gearey
Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
Coauthors: Christopher J. Caseldine (Department of Geography, School of Geography and Archaeology, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK), W.A.Casparie (Saturnuslan 5,9742 EA Groningen, The Netherlands)

Bog bursts - the catastrophic failure of the structural and hydrological integrity of a (usually ombrotrophic) mire - and their impacts upon surrounding environments and communities in the Irish boglands and elsewhere are vividly described in the historical literature. However, little work has been carried out to investigate these phenomena in terms of their identification, causes, frequency and effects in the Holocene palaeoenvironmental or archaeological records. This paper will describe the results of integrated archaeological and palaeoecological research carried out as part of the Lisheen Archaeological Project, Co.Tipperary, Ireland, focussing on the impact of Bronze Age trackway construction on mire hydrology in a complex raised mire system. The identification and characterisation of catastrophic mire rupture in the multi-proxy palaeoecological investigations at locations both proximal and distal to the sites of burst will be considered, including data from peat stratigraphical, palynological, plant macrofossil, humification and testate amoebae analyses. The potential effect of bog bursts on local communities and the reflection of this in the archaeological record will also be discussed.

Date received: April 16, 2002

Copyright © 2002 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caji-04.