A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation of the findspot of an Iron Age bog body from Oldcroghan, Co. Offaly, Ireland

New insights into late Holocene farming and woodland dynamics in western Ireland with particular reference to the early medieval horizontal watermill at Kilbegly, Co. Roscommon

“…In the late Bronze Age and Iron Age, farming continued but at a reduced level (cf. a similar pattern has been recorded in north Offaly; Plunkett et al, 2009). A strong upturn in farming, including cereal growing, may have commenced as early as AD 400 with the highest levels of activity in the ninth and early part of the 10th centuries AD.…”

Cryptotephras: the revolution in correlation and precision dating

“…The Microlite tephra provides an anchor in the age model developed by Plunkett et al . () in the multi‐proxy investigation of an Irish peat bog within which an Iron Age body was discovered. In addition, Balascio et al () illustrated how the preservation of at least two cryptotephra deposits within an Iron Age/Viking Site in the Lofoten helped to constrain the age of boat houses at this site.…”

Cryptotephra as a dating and correlation tool in archaeology

“…In such records the rapidly accumulating sediments are ideal for preserving multiple cryptotephra layers, often with only minimal disturbance of the horizon (Davies et al, 2007;Dugmore et al, 1992;Payne et al, 2005). Consequently, cryptotephrochronology has been applied in a number of wetland archaeological sites, most notably in Ireland (Newman et al, 2007;Plunkett et al, 2009), Scotland (Housley et al, 2010) and Scandinavia (Balascio et al, 2011), which have received many tephra deposits from (mostly) Icelandic volcanoes during the Holocene and Lateglacial (Lawson et al, 2012;Swindles et al, 2011). The chronology of land use and vegetation change in Ireland during the Iron Age and Bronze Age, for example, is now well constrained by studies combining cryptotephra and radiocarbon dating (Newman et al, 2007;Plunkett et al, 2008).…”

“…The chronology of land use and vegetation change in Ireland during the Iron Age and Bronze Age, for example, is now well constrained by studies combining cryptotephra and radiocarbon dating (Newman et al, 2007;Plunkett et al, 2008). Key cryptotephra layers used to date and correlate peatlands and associated archaeological sites across much of Ireland include the Hekla 1 (AD 1104), AD 860 and the Microlite Tephra (755e680 BC; Plunkett et al, 2004Plunkett et al, , 2009). These eruptions have widely been attributed to Icelandic volcanic sources (Lawson et al, 2012;Plunkett et al, 2004), however recent work by Jensen et al (2012) indicates that one fraction of the AD 860 eruption correlates to the Alaskan White River Ash (eastern lobe), offering trans-Atlantic correlations of palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archives.…”

“…Dugmore, 1989b;Housley et al, 2010), where studies of land use go hand in hand with palaeoenvironmental investigations. More recently, novel cryptotephra investigations in archaeological sequences have successfully demonstrated the potential of looking for these non-visible, volcanic ash layers within archaeological cave and rock shelter sites as well as in palaeoenvironmental archives (Balascio et al, 2011;Blockley et al, 2006;Douka et al, 2013;Lane et al, 2011b;Lowe et al, 2012;Plunkett et al, 2009). Consequently, the technique is now being promoted to a wider, archaeological audience, most specifically at recent conference sessions (e.g.…”