1995:045 - BALLYNAHATTY, Down

After twelve weeks of excavation during 1994 and 1995, the 16m-diameter inner enclosure (BNH6) was completely excavated and the area to the east, beyond the large outer enclosure (BNH5), was investigated. The excavation was again supported by the Environment Service-HMB and the School of Geosciences, Queen's University, Belfast.

BNH6
The excavation revealed a sequence of construction tentatively interpreted as follows :

1. Western setting. A small rectangular setting of 14 postholes, 4m x 3m in extent with an opening to the south-south-west and with an associated cremation.
2. This timber setting was squared off, possibly to make a platform (3m x 3m) as there was no obvious place for a door. Four massive post-holes were dug 2.5m beyond each corner up to 2.4m deep and 2m wide.
3. This was tightly enclosed by a ring of 25 post-holes, 2m deep, with an entrance to the south-south-east, probably featuring a planked facade.
4. The whole was then enclosed in another circle of 33 similar postholes with a planked facade entrance. Though only 2m apart, the exact relationship between the two circles is at present uncertain.
5. The inner ring and the four posts were destroyed by fire and the stumps extracted. The holes were then repacked with charcoal, soil and stones. Artefacts, especially scrapers, were deposited at the entrance.

BNH5
The excavation of the postholes of the outer enclosure BNH5 at the eastern end was completed and the excavated area extended 18m further east.

A 20m section of the outer double-palisaded enclosure was excavated on the eastern side. The line of these posts seems to have been diverted to include the Eastern Setting, a small enclosure of eight postholes, 3m x 3m, oriented south-south-west.

A complex of c. 38 postholes may define an annexe attached to the eastern side of BNH5. The northern arm of this consisted of a partly excavated line of eight paired posts, 1.4m deep, running east for 11m, associated with a narrow, shallow, charcoal-filled trench. The postholes contained a secondary fill of charcoal, soil and a concentration of stones. At the eastern end of this a 3m-wide, flat-bottomed ditch, 2m deep, runs north-south. Sections were taken across two of a series of boulder- and charcoal-filled, funnel-shaped pits cut into the primary fill. These reflected a similar sequence of events to the inner postholes of BNH6, and were clearly part of the same ceremonial tradition. On the western edge of the ditch an associated line of postholes contained only primary fill and a post mould, showing that these posts had rotted in situ. One of these postholes had cut through a cist burial which had a clear entrance and contained the remains of two Carrowkeel Ware pots with cremations (found 1994). Further to the east, a line of four damaged cremations was found, three of which rested on stone slabs, and these were also associated with Carrowkeel Ware. Another line of postholes defines the southern side of the annexe. Grooved Ware pottery was found within this area.

Further features disappear under the baulks to the north and to the south, where there is an increasing risk of plough damage.