1990:005 - LINFORD, Antrim

The site lies some 700 ft above sea level and consists of about 40 acres of arable land which is crossed with old cultivation ridges where there are other slight monuments. The excavation was undertaken to examine the nature of the settlement and to establish the period of use of these ridges, what was grown in them, and were they made by spade or plough? Four areas were excavated:

Cultivation Ridges
A trench 12m by 2m was opened across the ridges. Incorporated Brown Ware (pottery) dates the ridges to 1680–1720 and scores on boulders in the furrows indicate the use of a plough. Soil samples were taken by Dr V. Hall, QUB. These were taken from within the ridges and in the furrows. Below the 17th-century cultivation a cobbled surface was uncovered associated with finds of plain and decorated Neolithic pottery, a flint arrowhead, scrapers, waste flakes and cores.

The House
Two trenches were excavated across an embanked rectangular structure. The wall footings of a rectangular building 10m by 4m were uncovered. The walls stood three courses high, and were composed of basalt boulders and soil, without mortar. The walls had collapsed equally inside and outside the structure. Brown Ware was found within and on the collapsed surfaces of the structure. A broken glass bottle and some fragments of slate were also recovered. A trench some 1m wide and 0.4m deep was found to have been dug up the centre of the structure, presumably after its abandonment. Sherds of Brown and Sgraffito Wares were found in its fill together with slate and an iron object. It appears that the house was contemporary with the cultivation ridges.

The Cairn
A 1m wide trial trench was excavated across what appeared to be a clearance cairn. It was, however, found to contain a central pit burial in the body of the cairn. This contained a small amount of cremated bone together with sherds of a plain Bronze Age urn. A larger area was excavated on the south side of the cairn. On its surface sherds of Vase Urn (?), Cordoned Urn and bowl Food Vessels together with a porcellanite axe were recovered. A second small cremation was found close to the central burial. The north side of the cairn was not excavated.

The Earthen Mound
A group of earthen enclosures at the east side of the site was planned. Two sherds of Brown Ware were found in one of the banks and from this it was concluded that the enclosures date from the 17th century. Set within one of the enclosures is an earth mound, some 10m by 6m. A 1m wide trench uncovered what we have interpreted as the gable-end of a sod-walled house. Three gullies and a stone box-drain were found below the sod structure and contained cord-impressed Neolithic pottery, a hollow scraper, end scrapers and flint flakes. Further excavation is to take place in 1991.