Seen & Found

skylady

Why do some long gone ditches/hedges/field boundaries show up on aerial map as dark straight lines and other hedges/ditches that did also exist but also bulldozed not show up as dark lines on aerial maps. http://binged.it/1d63G6C

randomperson12

if you dug up where those lines are you would find remains of timer and old walls and bottles and etc stuff that was trown into ditch
theyre like that because theres remains below the ground like earthworks and holes

skylady

Thanks for reply.Why though are those ditch lines visible in only some fields in my townland - on one farm only - would different farming practices account for this ie - filling in ditches with different material than neighbours used ???

slowburner

Cropmarks appear lighter or darker as a consequence of soil depth.
This depth is determined by what lies beneath the topsoil or plough soil.
So if there was a buried wall, bank or other structure, the depth of soil above tends to be thinner then the surrounding areas and plants above tend to be more stunted due to a decreased availability of nutrients and/or water. This creates a lighter cropmark than the surrounding areas.
If there was a buried ditch, plants above tend to grow taller than surrounding areas due to the greater depth of soil with increased nutrients and/or water. This produces a darker cropmark.




The reason why cropmarks appear in one of your fields and not another is really down to the fact that either the cropmarks are there because there are structures present under the topsoil, or they are absent because there are no structures present.
However, cropmarks can also be erased if a field has been heavily and repeatedly ploughed over the years.

An Fhuiseog

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Hey folks,

Just a quick question,

Has anybody got any information regarding the item at the following co-ordinates?

53.693168,-6.460052

I looked on Archaeology.ie and found no mention of it.

Also, Can anybody tell me if the Boyne was re-directed just below this feature?

Hey cfuserkildare,

I was flicking through Anthony Murphy's latest book 'Newgrange:Monument to Immortality' when I happened upon the image attached below(it's not a great image I'm afraid!);it shows the area you were initially curious about(red arrow),and it looks to me like an area of the ridge above the river which may very well have been quarried,which is what we had guessed it was earlier.

cfuserkildare

Hi An Fhuiseog,

When I was looking on Google Maps There is no Dimensional Perspective, might just be a quarry as you reckon,

However, I still think that the Boyne just beside it has been re-directed at some point in time.

An Fhuiseog

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Hi An Fhuiseog,

When I was looking on Google Maps There is no Dimensional Perspective, might just be a quarry as you reckon,

However, I still think that the Boyne just beside it has been re-directed at some point in time.

It's possible the river,or part of it,was re-directed sometime in the past to accommodate the watermill that was once sited on the opposite bank of the river.

cfuserkildare

Hey folks,

Can anybody shed some light on what this is?

53.280322,-8.63961

Kiltullagh, Galway.

No known reason for a field boundary that shape, nothing on Archaeology.ie for it either.

Just does not look right to me.

Cheers.

bawn79

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Hey folks,

Can anybody shed some light on what this is?

53.280322,-8.63961

Kiltullagh, Galway.

No known reason for a field boundary that shape, nothing on Archaeology.ie for it either.

Just does not look right to me.

Cheers.

That is interesting alright - I've linked the bing maps image of it as well. http://binged.it/1eQ6fOG
It looks to me that there are some trees growing out of the boundary so it unlikely just to be from harvesting or something like that.

The Irish version of the Ohio Serpert Mound perhaps!.

http://chorographia-archaeologica.blogspot.ie/2013/08/ohio-serpent-mound-lidar.html

cfuserkildare

When I look at it on Google Maps, there is a defining ditch but I cannot think for the life of me why it would be that shape!

Is there any reference to the locals attempting a Green Cerne Abbas Giant?

slowburner

It's an early field boundary possibly relating to the grounds of Kiltullagh Church and it may have been retained later as some form of drain.
The Bing image seems to show recent modification of the feature.
see here

bawn79

slowburner wrote: »

It's an early field boundary possibly relating to the grounds of Kiltullagh Church and it may have been retained later as some form of drain.
The Bing image seems to show recent modification of the feature.
see here

Ah yes - should have checked the old 6" maps. I wonder perhaps it was to do with the landscaping of Kiltullagh House? Doesn't seem to be any logic to it for a church to do something like that?

The landscaping above reminds me a bit of Glenstal House (later Abbey) which was a completely new build including landscaping etc when it was constructed.
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,574046,656622,6,8 (in the 1800s I think).

randomperson12

guys look at the area of clonfert county galway on the old maps its amazing you can see multiple roads going into where the monastery was

cfuserkildare

Hey folks,

Does anybody have any idea what stood here?

53.303368,-6.571616

Very interesting field boundaries kinda centralised from this point.

bawn79

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Hey folks,

Does anybody have any idea what stood here?

53.303368,-6.571616

Very interesting field boundaries kinda centralised from this point.

We will have to bring in a rule that the 6" maps have been checked!

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,695227,729043,6,9

It looks to me that its the remains of an unusual field boundary.

randomperson12

wheres that

cfuserkildare

Hey randomperson12,

Its just over the canal from The Village at Lyons, near Newcastle, County Dublin, heading back towards Hazelhatch direction.

randomperson12

that thing on the pic is probaly a enclosure for animals or etc ringforts plus the fields around it where probaly a farm belong to some celtic chieftain

Meathlass

Any idea what this is? Found in a field with a multi-vallate ringfort.

slowburner

If man made, it appears to be a fragment of something larger, with the remaining rounded end forming the original edge.
The curious thing is the angle at which the deep holes are bored from the surface.
They appear to be bored from the surface towards the outer edge. The shallow holes could be remains of pits bored to stop the boring tool from slipping at the initial stage.
Boring holes at such an acute angle in stone is quite a difficult task.
If the shallow holes are preparatory 'pits' to give the tool purchase at an acute angle it seems that the intended angle is from the outer edge towards the centre.
I've no idea what the object's purpose might be but I've passed a couple of photos on to someone who might know.

On the other hand, it could be natural. Possibly a beach pebble with marine worm holes.
Curious one way or the other.

Meathlass

slowburner wrote: »

If man made, it appears to be a fragment of something larger, with the remaining rounded end forming the original edge.
The curious thing is the angle at which the deep holes are bored from the surface.
They appear to be bored from the surface towards the outer edge. The shallow holes could be remains of pits bored to stop the boring tool from slipping at the initial stage.
Boring holes at such an acute angle in stone is quite a difficult task.
If the shallow holes are preparatory 'pits' to give the tool purchase at an acute angle it seems that the intended angle is from the outer edge towards the centre.
I've no idea what the object's purpose might be but I've passed a couple of photos on to someone who might know.

On the other hand, it could be natural. Possibly a beach pebble with marine worm holes.
Curious one way or the other.

Thanks slowburner. Unfortunately I haven't seen the object in the flesh; the photos were passed on to me from a local community group. I had originally thought the holes may be for casting ingots.

Found about 30 miles from the sea on a high ridge, doesn't seem to be natural from the photos.

olly_mac

It's unclear whether the holes go all the way through. If they do, I wonder if it could have been a loom weight? But it doesn't conform to any other examples I have seen.

Wren A. Magreet

olly_mac wrote: »

It's unclear whether the holes go all the way through. If they do, I wonder if it could have been a loom weight? But it doesn't conform to any other examples I have seen.

I had deleted my earlier post because I thought it could indeed be a loom weight,but the holes on one side don't appear to align with those on the other side.Maybe the two clear perforations are natural and someone may have decided to bore holes the other side(with the intention of making a loom weight) and then thought better of it,perhaps?To be fair,most loom weights would probably have been made of fired clay,which were far less time-consuming to make.There are examples of double perforated loom weights(see below).

pueblo

I found this recently in a river, amazingly it's in pristine condition. Can anyone tell me what sort of date this might be?

pueblo

Based on this pic from the Museum of London I'd say the pot above is a ringer for a 19th c. stoneware ink pot....but then you all probably knew that already! :-)

http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/ceramics/pages/object.asp?obj_id=69959

12 element

I've noticed a couple of ringforts that appear on the older OSI maps but are non existent today. I presume there is little that can be done about this now though?

slowburner

12 element wrote: »

I've noticed a couple of ringforts that appear on the older OSI maps but are non existent today. I presume there is little that can be done about this now though?

Afraid not. Most of these earthworks were levelled between c. 1840 - 1860 . This change is readily seen by toggling between the 6" and 25" historic maps.
I don't know if the numbers lost has ever been quantified on a national scale. That would be an interesting statistic.
At a guess maybe 40% of enclosures were lost over this period?

coillte1

would ye mind looking at this and please let me know what yer views are
Thanks. the lines you see wrap around the tool

Sultan of Swing

coillte1 wrote: »

would ye mind looking at this and please let me know what yer views are
Thanks. the lines you see wrap around the tool

What sort of material is it do you think - is it metal/stone/clay??It kinda looks a wee bit like a sherd of grooved ware pottery(late Neolithic - circa 3000 B.C. onwards) which has that distinctive grooved decoration(although the lines look a little too straight and not deep enough).But if you say it's on the reverse too,then it's unlikely.If it is a pottery sherd it would obviously be lighter in weight than metal or stone.It's always difficult to tell from photos to be honest.It's intriguing all the same!

Sorry,just looking at the photo again,it does look like a piece of metal,probably bronze.The red patches on the surface could be cuprite which is copper oxide and appears quite often on ancient bronzes.If it is metal,it's going to be quite difficult to tell what it was once part of,be that ancient or contemporary.Where was it found by the way?

coillte1

Hello sultan
its made of stone i shouls put up side profile too il do that when i get a chance later
its wedge shaped with a blade like edge i found it in co clare along with a lot of other pieces last week some of the other pieces have line that wrap around too but are angled one has lines that wrap around and it looks the same back and front