County: Wicklow Site name: BALLYNATTIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0128
Author: Anne Connolly, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 722494m, N 671275m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.778595, -6.184330
An excavation of a burnt mound, identified during licensed monitoring along the proposed bypass of Arklow town, was carried out from April to July 1997. The site was situated c. 1.5 miles south of Arklow, to the west of the main Dublin–Wexford road (N11).
Two main cuttings were excavated to natural along the land-take at Ballynattin townland. Cutting 1 investigated the burnt mound identified during the initial soil-stripping. A further spread of burnt material was identified in the course of the archaeological work and Cutting 2 was opened to fully resolve the archaeology of this area.
Excavation of Cutting 1 revealed a subcircular, compact burnt stone and charcoal concentration, which measured c. 7m north-east/south-west and 5.5m north-west/south-east. This burnt material had a maximum depth of 0.2m. Finds from this material consisted of shattered flint, with one fragmented worked piece being recovered.
Excavation of Cutting 2 was undertaken to investigate a substantial spread of burnt stone and charcoal, located some 25m to the south of Cutting 1. This burnt spread was of an irregular though broadly subcircular shape, and measured 12.5m north-east/south-west and 10.8m north-west/south-east. It had a maximum depth of 0.45m at its centre, though it was significantly shallower on its south-west side. It did not yield any finds with the exception of some shattered flint.
A second, smaller subcircular burnt spread was located to the north-west of the main area. It had a diameter of 2.6m and an average depth of 0.15m. Excavation revealed two further small, shallow, irregular burnt deposits underlying this subcircular burnt spread, each with a layer of light silty clay occurring between them. Underlying all these layers was a yellow silty clay, which seems to have been formed naturally through silting. It had a depth of 0.3m.
Immediately to the north-west of and underlying the main burnt spread, and to the south-east of and partly underlying the series of small subcircular burnt spreads, a wooden feature was revealed. It underlay the yellow silty clay and overlay a mixed layer of fine sand. The wooden feature consisted of c. 23 narrow lengths of wood laid in a north–south direction, forming a deliberately prepared surface. It measured 1.9m in length, 1.4m in width and 0.1m– 0.15m in average depth.
On removal of this wooden feature, a series of moderately preserved wooden stakes was excavated. They did not form any very clear patterns, though they had definitely been pointed to facilitate their being driven into the underlying sand. A sample from this wood underlying the wooden feature was dated by the Palaeoecology Centre in Queen’s University, Belfast, and a felling date of late 856 BC or early 855 BC was recorded. Wood samples were identified by Ellen O’Carroll, Irish Archaeological Wetlands Unit, and were found to be predominantly of alder (61%), with willow, ash, hazel, oak, birch and holly also represented. There were no finds associated with the wooden feature or the underlying strata.
Oranmore Industrial Park, Claregalway Road, Oranmore, Co. Galway
