The first use model for fuel during the Iron Age is produced, indicating selection of species for certain activities such as smelting, construction and cremation, while trees were not specifically selected for domestic fires. It potentially demonstrates a shift to wetter conditions during the Developed Iron Age. In this study, charcoal is used to reconstruct past woodland environments from the Late Bronze and Iron Age in the south of Ireland. Woodlands were an integral resource during prehistory and one environmental method which has been under utilised in the study of Irish woodlands is archaeological charcoal analysis. Given the recent explosion of archaeological excavations in Ireland due to the boom period of the Celtic Tiger years, it has now become possible to examine many aspects of daily life during this time. The Iron Age in Ireland (700 BC-AD 400) has long been considered an enigmatic period, with a lack of archaeological evidence for everyday settlements. The size of the charcoal dataset makes it possible to evaluate woodland cover and resourcing from two perspectives – both archaeological and palaeoecological. This is the first clear evidence of anthropogenic influence during the middle Bronze Age in Ireland derived from archaeological charcoal. With intensifying human activity during the middle Bronze Age, the proportion of Maloideae, a light demanding family rose. The most common taxa identified in the charcoal assemblage compare well with regional pollen diagrams, particularly the use of Quercus and Corylus. It provides new palaeoecological evidence contributing to the understanding of woodland cover transformation on the island of Ireland during the late-Holocene period.

This research presents one of the largest Bronze Age archaeological charcoal datasets in Europe. Despite the huge volumes of these samples, of which charcoal is the most ubiquitous ecofact, to date charcoal analysis has been considerably under-utilised in the study of past Irish woodlands. The vast quantities of bulk soil samples suddenly available necessitated the development and adaptation of new methodologies. Swathes of roads and pipelines cut through the Irish landscape during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ years (approximately 1994–2008) leading to an unprecedented number of archaeological excavations and creating a unique opportunity for extensive research of past landscapes on a broad scale. It is possible that pyre material could have been buried as a proxy for the body. Empty funerary pits or possible “cenotaphs” contain the exact same wood taxa as the graves with bone, suggesting that it may be correct to interpret these as graves. Pyre material was consistently buried with the cremated bones in graves indicating the importance of the pyre itself in the overall cremation process.

Comparison of charcoal with osteological data suggests that the selection of wood did not reflect age or sex. It demonstrates that particular trees (oak, pomaceous fruitwood and ash) were selected over 600 years to fuel the cremation pyres at Templenoe, trends which are reflected regionally in both Ireland and Britain. A holistic approach combines charcoal, plant-macro, osteological and artefactual results to provide new insights into the cremation process in prehistory. This research examines environmental results focusing on charcoal data from the largest Bronze Age cremation cemetery discovered in Ireland. The pyre was an integral part of the ritual of cremation, yet the actual wood that fuelled pyres has rarely been investigated from Bronze Age sites.

Pyre cremation