County: Antrim Site name: LARNE HARBOUR
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Cia McConway, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Platform and Pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 741321m, N 902589m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.851178, -5.799209
The site encompasses an area 200m north–south by c. 100m, standing about 4m higher than the surrounding ground. The site had been under concrete and used as a storage area for haulage containers, and a factory had stood to the south. The development involved the reduction of the entire site to sit level with the surrounding ground, to facilitate a new marshalling area.
A site assessment carried out by Eoin Halpin in 1995 (Excavations 1995, 2) noted the presence of a sod-like old ground surface in the north-western corner of the site, but this surface appeared to have been scarped away elsewhere onto water-rolled gravels. A second site assessment carried out by the writer in December 1999 (Excavations 1999, 3–4) confirmed that the gravels were raised beach deposits up to 4m deep containing numerous flint artefacts characteristic of the later Mesolithic period.
Following discussions with the authorities in the DOE:EHS, archaeological monitoring of the mechanical removal of the raised beach deposits was recommended. The gravels were removed in 20m-wide corridors, subdivided in plan into 5m2 grids. A representative sample of the lithics was kept from each grid square from the uppermost 1m. The remaining corridors were baulk-excavated to formation level. The resulting section faces were recorded, and finds retrieved from the section faces were marked on these sections.
The 1999 assessment had uncovered a Bronze Age pit in the north-western corner of the site. After the removal of concrete and hardcore, several more small pits were found here, cutting through the uppermost raised beach material. Several large sherds of Bronze Age pottery were recovered from their fills, as was charcoal and some burnt bone. These features did not appear to form a structure and may represent the peripheral remains of a possible larger Bronze Age site lying to the immediate north of the area under investigation.
The north-west area had been flagged as an area of very high potential and most likely to have in situ Mesolithic material. With the cooperation of the Harbour Authorities, the raised beach deposits in this area were slowly reduced by machine, under supervision. Near the base of the raised beach gravels, several spreads of charcoal were recorded. Underlying these, at the very bottom of the raised beach deposits, was an extensive in situ Mesolithic site, 26m east–west (max.) by 22m, extending beyond the northern limit of the site.
The Mesolithic site, when first uncovered, was delineated by a heavily charcoal-flecked, sandy soil entirely overlying a spread of stone 26m x 22m. On excavation it became clear that the stones were a deliberately laid surface, two layers deep, to form a slightly raised stone platform. Unlike the raised beach gravel, these stones were angular in shape and were mostly basalt. Artefacts recovered from the charcoal soil and the orange sand between the stones included heavy blades and microliths, burnt bone and a possible pig tooth. Several extensive chipping floors complete with hammerstones were found.
Underlying the lower layer of the stone platform were subsoil-cut features extending 22m east–west by 18m. These features represent an earlier phase of activity on the site and appear to be independent of the stone platform. Most of the features were centred around a large pit, 3m north–south by 2m by 0.9m deep. Lithics characteristic of the earlier Mesolithic period, charred hazelnut shells and a large quantity of fish bones were retrieved from the heavily charcoal-flecked fills. Partially overlying the upper fill of the eastern edge of this pit was an artificial mound of subsoil, 2.4m north–south by 2m by 0.25m high. It is likely that the mound is the upcast of the pit and had been pushed over the infilled pit by wave action.
Although only the very preliminary post-excavation analysis has been undertaken to date, the apparent clustering of features around this pit and mound would suggest that they are the focal point of this phase of the site. The recovery of charred hazelnut shells and fish bones indicates the deliberate deposition of a feast, and this may suggest that the site had originally been used as a place for ritual. The later construction of the stone platform and chipping floors would suggest that the site was later used as an industrial area.
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