Pollen profile, BHY VI: overlying stone-wall field system in Behy townland

The sampling site lies 425 m north-west of Behy court tomb where there were peat faces available that were suitable for sampling. A relatively long monolith (BHY VI; 54 cm peat and 5 cm of underlying mineral soil) was taken from an isolated ca. 3 m wide turf bank. A scatter of small timbers (pine and also oak) were present in the general vicinity but timbers were note noted in the immediate vicinity of the sampling site. Total depth of peat at sampling point (TDP; adjust for shrinkage): 120 cm. The pollen spectra (21 in all) start at 4 cm (i.e. 4–5 cm: mineral soil immediately beneath the peat) to -51 cm, 51 to 50 cm ABOVE the peat/mineral soil interface. Charcoal-rich peat at the base. The age/depth model gives the following chronology: BHY VI: [>2600, pre-bog record]; peat: 2600 BC–AD 120, i.e. late Neolithic to late Iron Age. There is a modest 'pine flush' in the basal peat spectra so the age estimate above almost certainly under-estimates (by two centuries) the true age. The age/depth model is based on a smooth spline curve (smooth factor = 0.5) that takes into account the four available 14C dates and a surface age estimate of peat thickness of 160 cm, i.e. 40 cm added to compensate for peat shrinkage; surface regarded as dating to AD 1950. This is the age/depth model used in the EGQSJ publication (in press, 12/2019). LOI and tephra investigations were also carried out. A distinct tephra layer centred on -45 cm (ca. 120 BC according to age/depth model). Tephra geochemically characterised. The results of the tephra investigations have yet to be published. A modest (c. 17%) 'pine flush' is recorded at the base. Poaceae gradually replaces Betula near the base (ca. 1800 BC). These investigations relating to Céide Fields were carried out in PRU, NUIG, part-funded by The Heritage Council (of Ireland). The aim was to provide an environmental context for the establishment and use of the prehistoric stone-wall field system, and an overall chronological framework and an environmental history of the area