County: Antrim Site name: CAVEHILL, Ballyaghagan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Richard Warner, Ulster Museum
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 732023m, N 879194m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.643650, -5.954520
A dress-fastener was found near the summit of Cavehill in August 1993 by detectorists. In June 1994 the site was excavated by Lucia McConway and John O'Keeffe on behalf of the Ulster Museum and the Environment Service.
The ornament had lain in a gulley, possibly an ancient path, cut into the boulder clay. Very close by, and also in the gulley, was a boulder surrounded by charcoal-rich soil and burnt hazelnut shells. This burnt deposit did not quite reach the ornament, but an association seemed to be indicated. Both the ornament and the boulder-with-burning appeared to be primary deposits in the gulley, and all were subsequently covered by peat.
Surprisingly a radiocarbon determination showed that the burning was late Early Medieval, the date of McArt's Fort not very far away, and of some souterrain ware unearthed by interference in the vicinity. At present we are not able to explain the contradiction in the chronology. Radiocarbon dates of the basal peat might give further help.
Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT9 5AB
