1986:07 - NAPPAN, Antrim

A trial excavation was carried out between 9-22 June 1986 on Nappan Mountain (near Carnlough), Co. Antrim, to investigate a Neolithic flint scatter which had been discovered by Michael Brennan whilst surveying the field systems, huts and enclosures in the area. The flints had been found c. 15cm below the present land surface, near a stretch of partly turf-covered wall. Brennan had been probing the area to investigate a suspected hut site, represented by an L-shaped arc of boulders. The aim of the excavation was to examine the flint scatter further and to determine its relationship with the wall and the 'hut'. Finances were provided by Ulster Television, and the results will be published in P.C. Woodman's forthcoming monograph on the Glencloy Valley project.

Three trenches were opened: trench 1, a 5m x 2m cut across the wall, taking in c. 1m on either side of it; trench 2, a 3m x 2.5m area round the 'hut'; trench 3, a 1m x 1m trial trench 10m to the north-east of the wall. The topsoil in trenches 1 and 3 consisted of 15-20cm of blackish, peaty material which became increasingly gritty with depth. This overlay a deep deposit of orange-brown boulder clay containing charcoal fragments (in its top few centimetres), rotten basalt, sandstone, and a few tiny pebbles of erratic flint. In the wall itself, the upper interstices were filled with blackish springy turf. This gave way to the blackish, peaty material and orange-brown boulder clay seen elsewhere. Immediately beneath the stones (including those which had tumbled from the wall) was a thin layer of grey clayish silt, representing material which had seeped in from above. In trench 2, the top 11-14cm consisted of grey-brown topsoil which was peaty at its top and increasingly clayey and pebbly towards its base. This overlay a deep layer of gravelly/pebbly material, representing the decomposed basalt bedrock intermixed with sandstone erratics.

Worked flints were found in great profusion in all three trenches, and it was clear that the scatter ran uninterruptedly beneath the wall and on both sides of the 'hut wall', thus pre-dating both. In trenches 1 and 3 the flints occurred towards the base of the peaty topsoil (at the level of the original land surface) and in the top 7cm of the boulder clay. In the area of the wall, many of the flints were found lying at an angle, tilted by the wall stones. This implies that there was not a deep deposit of material above the flint scatter at the time of the wall's construction and collapse. In trench 2 the flints were found from the bottom of the sod to the top of the gravelly/pebbly layer.

No clear structural evidence was associated with the flint scatter, but the existence of two hearths in trenches 1 and 2 was suggested by the presence of two charcoal spreads, settings of stones (some with possible signs of burning), and several fragments of burnt flint.

Finds consisted of c. 770 pieces of flint, two quartzite hammerstones, a sandstone ?rubber and pebble, 16 porcellanite flakes (of which one was from a polished implement), two phytoliths, a core of Arran pitchstone (only the second to be found in Ireland) and 11 fragments of plain Western Neolithic pottery. All this material had been imported to the site, the flint and sandstone coming from the coast some 250m below.

Ninety per cent of the flint material consisted of debitage and cores, and the artifacts were dominated by convex scrapers (of which 35 were found). Other artifacts included one crude hollow scraper, a unifacially-chipped arrowhead and several blades and flakes. Microwear analysis by Elizabeth Anderson and Gina Johnson (UCC) has revealed traces of hide-working on one of the end scrapers.

The whole assemblage closely parallels that found at Ballygalley Hill, a few kilometres down the coast.

The site may represent a temporary occupation site, at which knapping (and probably the finishing of porcellanite artifacts) took place. As for the wall and 'hut', these need not be of great antiquity; they may relate to documented 17th- and 18th-century agricultural activity in the area.