Trackways

Trackways. . , Trackways were constructed to aid movement across the bog. They range in length from a few hundred meters to several kilometers. As the bogs have grown over the years these trackways have been submerged and preserved at different levels within them. They are the most common archaeological feature in bogs and many more trackways remain to be discovered. Any new discoveries should be kept wet and reported to Environment and Heritage Service., Photo/illustration captions, Before modern drainage many parts pf Ireland were covered in a soggy peat interspersed with small islands and larger areas of dryland. At most times of the year they would have been difficult to cross but necessary to forge links with other communities. , Some trackways were built as far back as the Neolithic (BC 4000-2000) and many date back to the Bronze (BC 2000-500) and they continued to be built until the fairly recent times. Trackways have a number of different forms and were constructed in different ways. They could be anything from a loose deposit of brushwood and branches from coppiced trees to more carefully constructed hurdles and large tracts with brushwood packing and split logs pegged into place. , The narrowest trackways would have been used for pedestrians traversing the bog, the bigger tracks would have been wide enough to take wheeled carts and wagons and strong enough to move cattle to new pasture.