1976:061 - BAY(Carnlough), Antrim

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Antrim Site name: BAY(Carnlough)

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number:

Author: P.C. Woodman, Department of Antiquities, Ulster Museum

Site type: Habitation site

Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)

ITM: E 728924m, N 915987m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.974815, -5.986135

Excavations in this area were carried out in 1977-1979. So far work has concentrated on the valley bottom to the south side of the Glenloy river. The sites which lie in the fields adjacent to the present shoreline are designated Bay Farm 1. Bay Farm 2 lies under 1 metre of riverine deposits in a lowlying field 200m inland from a shingle ridge. Bay Farm 3 is the remnant of a chipping floor, which appears to be in the uppermost part of the gravels of the western shingle ridge.

Bay Farm I D293164
The excavations revealed two main areas of occupation. The lower lay on the edge of a terrace on whose seaward edge was the shingle ridge of the Maximum Littorina Transgression.
Here there appears to have been a series of Later Mesolithic chipping floors. Unfortunately, mud flows from the side of the Glens have obliterated most of these with the result that, at the bottom of the slope, there was up to one metre of disturbed clay which contained both Mesolithic and Neolithic material. In two places chipping floors survived. One which lay close to a notch in the slope was very well preserved being, in places, a solid layer of industrial waste up to 5m across. Very few finished implements were associated with these floors. Beneath these were occasional traces of human occupation such as small pits, postholes, areas of charcoal and burnt hazelnut shells.
A second flat terrace, covered by hill wash rather than mudflows, existed further upslope. Here rather transitory traces of human occupation have been found. These include pits filled with flint work, part of a slight structure marked by a number of small stakeholes and an area of Late Bronze Age occupation. Two 4 metre square trenches in the latter site produced a clay mould fragment, pottery, pits and postholes. Some collapsed stone walls, which could be very late in date, were found in the hill wash.
A third area, slightly inland of the chipping floors, was investigated. Here natural erosion of agricultural activity has reduced the old ground surface. The only trace of human activity recorded was a series of pits filled with industrial waste. A trial-trench further upslope showed that near the edge of the Glen a second tongue from a mud-flow had obliterated any traces of human occupation. Excavations on the edge of the lower terrace, which were originally intended to ascertain the limits of the shingle ridge, revealed another Mesolithic chipping floor below the raised beach.

Bay Farm 2 D287161
This site was found during a pipe laying operation. It is a Neolithic site which has been buried under 1m of silt. The site appears to be on the bank of an earlier course of the Glenloy river which has now silted up. Although much of the material was in a slightly water-disturbed context the remains of a pot with cord decoration were found in a pit. Some flint waste was also found. As only three small exploratory trenches were cut into this site little can be said about it.

Bay Farm 3 D288165
This is a Later Mesolithic flintworking site which was discovered eroding out of the side of a farm lane. A small trench revealed that this material was in a disturbed context. The top of this ridge had been bulldozed flat within recent years.
Besides excavation a start on the study of the potential of this area was made through site catchment analysis, Mr I. Englander of the University of Ulster carried out a preliminary survey of the geomorphology and vegetational history of the site 2 area. It is hoped that a more detailed study of the environmental history will be carried out. Survey work, and examination of the collection of Mr W. Stuart (who found sites 1 and 2), has shown that there are other prehistoric sites in this area.