1973:0012 - MOUNT SANDEL, Derry

Lower Site
Excavations continued in the area opened by Mr. Collins in 1967. The purpose of this excavation was to obtain more charcoal for C14 dating and to establish the relationship between two trenches opened in 1967. Attempts were also made to establish if the deposits were in situ or slumped.
Excavation revealed a layer of charcoal apparently in situ just above the base of the deposits. Above this were a series of clay layers with lenses of occupation soil in them. These layers produced several axes, numerous microliths and the occasional sherd of Neolithic pottery. The layer between the charcoal and the boulder clay produced a heavy industry with large numbers of cores, flakes etc. Excavations are to continue next year.

Upper Site
Excavations of a corner of a field close to the fort of Mount Sandel were undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Finance prior to the building of a group of houses.
The excavation revealed firstly a series of features, which would appear to be related to the fort. These were a palisade trench and a ditch. No evidence for dating was found in either feature. A small area at the edge of the site produced several sherds of Neolithic pottery in a palaeo soil.
The main effort was the investigation of a Mesolithic site. This consisted of an occupation layer, which covered postholes of several huts and associated features such as pits and hearths.

Although it was impossible, due to later interference at the edge of the site, to obtain the complete plan of one individual hut it was possible to see that these were round huts approx 6 metres across with central hearths. The hearths and pits contained fish bones, bird bones and hazel nut shell. Fragments of mammal bones were comparatively rare.
The occupation layers and the pits also contained very large quantities of Mesolithic implements, notably several hundred microliths, some axes and a fragment of a bone point. No Neolithic or later material was found in this black occupation soil. There is no doubt that the huts underlay this occupation soil as several postholes were sealed by hearth layers or hearth stones.

These huts would appear to have been part of a winter settlement site where the huts were large and more substantial than the flimsy summer constructions.
Excavations of the occupation layers and the huts as well as the later features are to continue next year.