1998:226 - MOLLY MOUNTAIN, Molly, Fermanagh

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Fermanagh Site name: MOLLY MOUNTAIN, Molly

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: SMR 259:1

Author: John Channing

Site type: Burial

Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)

ITM: E 623696m, N 828016m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.200522, -7.636829

The site lay on a limestone plateau on the north-western slopes of Molly Mountain at an altitude of c. 180m. Upon initial inspection it resembled a raised platform with remnants of a circular enclosing bank, c. 42m in diameter, partially incorporated into the existing field boundaries.

Full excavation revealed a centrally located cinerary urn cremation adjacent to a cremation cist surrounded by smaller pits containing fragments of pottery, burnt bone and worked flint. One of these smaller pits also produced fire-cracked stone, which was similarly present in a fulacht fiadh-like trough 3m south of the main pit concentration.

Two clusters of stake-holes were uncovered to the north and south of the site. These stake-hole patterns were not easily identifiable as discrete structures; however, both patterns contain arcs of four to five stake-holes amid the apparent random distribution.

The structure of the site was predominantly natural, with the exception of a stone and earth bank running across the south of the site linking natural rock outcrops to the east and west, thus forming an enclosure. The internal face of the bank was well finished, with local limestone slabs set on their sides. The southern bank appeared to post-date the lowest layers of internal stratigraphy. Several scatters of pottery were recorded within the natural bedrock fissures.

A single east-west inhumation lay outside the site to the east. This inhumation occurred within a shallow, stone-lined grave that truncated an earlier circular pit with evidence of intense burning at its base.

Photographs, plans and descriptions of finds and features at this site are available on the Internet at: http//ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JChanning/.

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