Pit, Foaty, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Settlement Sites
Beneath the grounds of Fota Wildlife Park in County Cork, two pit features were uncovered that sit quietly in the archaeological record, unannounced by any interpretive panel or visitor trail.
One was described as a large pit or ditch feature, the other as a roughly circular pit, and both were only partially excavated during a programme of archaeological testing carried out in 2012.
The investigation was conducted by archaeologist Annette Quinn of Tobar Archaeological Services, ahead of a proposed extension to the wildlife park. Working under licence number 12E312, Quinn's team encountered the two features, designated F1 and F2 in the fieldwork records. Archaeological testing of this kind is a standard precautionary measure before ground disturbance on sites of potential historic interest, intended to identify buried remains before any development proceeds. The findings were documented in an unpublished report submitted in October 2012. Beyond the basic descriptions of the features, little further detail about their date, function, or fill has entered the public record, which means the pits remain something of an open question: domestic refuse disposal, boundary demarcation, and ritual deposition are all possibilities archaeologists routinely consider when encountering features of this type, but nothing specific has been confirmed for these two.