County: Antrim Site name: TULLY td
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Alan Harper, Ancient Monuments Branch/Ministry of Finance
Site type: Ringfort - unclassified
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 716226m, N 880694m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.661004, -6.198523
This site, which was threatened by runway extensions at Aldergmove Airport was a ringfort with raised interior surrounded by two ditches and two banks. The internal diameter was roughly 29m north-south, and 31m east-west: the north western quadrant was raised slightly above the rest of the interior.
Excavation was begun in September and continued into December 1970. It was shown that a number of occupation phases had occurred on the site, and it was decided in view of the season to concentrate work in two 5m squares and to examine the lowest levels of occupation. It was shown that occupation was first established on a raised peat platform - whether or not this peat was natural, or deliberately placed in position is not yet clear: there is no peat on the immediately surrounding land and none was located either under the banks or in the bottoms of the ditches.
The earliest occupation, in which the remains of wooden houses, and hearths were found, yielded no pottery but produced a single-sided bone comb, and a dumb-bell bead. This was separated from the second occupation by about 10cm. of peat. From this later occupation which was marked by at least 4 hearths, and a possible house site, pottery sherds of the Souterrain ware type were recovered as well as two bronze pins, a loom weight and several bones. There are therefore good prospects of dating the change from a culture without pottery to one in which pottery was used. A great deal of palaeoecological data may also be expected.
The layers of occupation and clay build-up above these earlier levels could not be examined in detail but some information about the latest occupation was obtained, and indeed this occupation yielded a third bronze pin.
