EARLY LAND CLEARANCE AND WOODEN TRACKWAY CONSTRUCTION IN THE 3RD AND 4TH MILLENNIA BC AT CORLEA, CO LONGFORD

Pollen and macrofossil analyses of raised bog peats associated with pr ehistoric wooden trackways at Corlea, Co. Longford, reveal a series of environmental changes on the 'dry' land bordering the extensive (and now commercially worked) bog and on the bog itself. An early form of l and clearance of a landnam type, lasting about 250 years, occurred in conjunction with an elm decline at 5100 radiocarbon years BP (3890 BC in calibrated years). This pre-dates the earliest trackway, Corlea 9, dated to 3580 BC, which was built at a time for which there is no dire ct palynological or archaeological evidence of nearby human activity. Pollen found in association with the trackway indicates the presence o f cleared areas not registered in the bog record. The apparent absence of human activity for about a millennium alter this time, as illustra ted in the pollen record from the peat, is questioned on the basis of the trackway pollen record and the sudden expansion of Fraxinus (ash) at 3000 BC. The possibility of a form of limited forest farming which is not registered in the pollen record from the bog, but which would h ave encouraged ash and hazel, is proposed.