County: Down Site name: BALLYNAHATTY 5 &6
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Barrie Hartwell, Dept of Archaeology, Queen’s University, Belfast
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Neolithic (4000BC-2501 BC)
ITM: E 732523m, N 867697m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.540280, -5.951970
This research excavation organized on behalf of Queen’s University was grant-aided by Environment Service, DOE(NI) in view of the information which it might yield about the impact of repeated ploughing on archaeological features in this sensitive area. Five principal elements were distinguished at the site:
1. An arc of pits about 1.4m deep, dated by radiocarbon to 3100—2600 BC approximately (BH5).
2. A 2nd series of pits in the outer enclosure (BH5) has been identified.
3. A sub-rectangular feature framed by postholes approximately 1m deep was found immediately inside the line of the outer enclosure.
4. Complicated groups of pits were identified at the entrance to the inner pit-circle enclosure (BH6).
5. Some pits on the inner row of BH6, the inner pit-circle enclosure, were filled with a black, charcoal-rich soil containing burnt bone, several end-scrapers and burnt debitage.
