sasaa irish industrial landscapes

Irish Industrial Landscapes:

Recording of Contexts

Every feature/context within the site with/without association to heating should be recorded in a spreadsheet similar to the one shown below. It is important to characterise each context on the basis of its dimensions, morphology (linear, oval, circular etc.), the steepness of its sides, the shape of the base, the colour and texture of its soils, the type and amount of its coarse inclusions.

Preliminary on-site interpretation regarding each feature should be included in a separate column, as shown in the table below. The purpose of the exercise is not to provide definitive conclusions but rather to guide the course of the investigation. It is widely acknowledged that when dealing with single context recording, it is often the case that "one can't see the wood for the trees." Keeping focused on the features with the purpose of interpreting their role and function should be the driving force of the investigation.

Table of contexts for metal-working features at Killickaweeny (Walsh and Photos-Jones, in preparation).

Context	Fill of	Filled by	Depth (m)	Length (m)	Width (m)	Description	Coarse inclusions	Preliminary on-site interpretation	Interpretation based on screening/ analysis	SASAA sample no.
419	420	-	0.08	0.44		Dark brown/grey silty clay with charcoal flecks and burnt clay	frequent slag, large stones and occasional sub-rounded pebbles	Fill of metallurgical pit	Bowl furnace fill	23.143
420	-	419, 422	0.13	0.44	0.44	Sub-circular in plan, sides steeply sloped, base mostly flat		Metallurgical pit	Bowl furnace	23.96
422	420	-				Mid brown orange silty clay, charcoal flecks	occasional pebbles	Burning	In situ burning	23.202
423	424	-	0.12	0.75	0.50	Dark brown grey silty clay frequent charcoal	occasional slag, occasional small pebbles, large stones and decayed stones	Fill of metallurgical pit	Bowl furnace fill	23.207/SL
424	-	423	0.12	0.75	0.50	Sub-oval in plan, sides slope gradually, base nearly flat- small ledge at E (Plate 152)		Metallurgical pit	Bowl furnace	23.11
436	437	-	0.07		0.32	Charcoal and silt, under this context the soil is heat-affected	occasional slag	Burning	Bowl furnace fill	23.5, 23.171/SL, 23.05 ms(1/1)

Subsequent to recording, the next stage is to carry out a number of tests & analyses preferably on the features themselves and while the excavation is ongoing, but also on the samples taken from the field during the post-excavation stage. These tests & analyses will shed light onto the nature and role of any individual feature/context. The final interpretation will rest on the combined result of field-based observations and laboratory analysis, and will be presented in a separate column, next to the preliminary interpretation as well as in a separate column listing the samples on which the decision was based.