County: Down Site name: MOURNE CONDUIT REPLACEMENT/AQUARIUS PROJECT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/00/68
Author: Chris Long, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia and Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 736322m, N 866497m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.528499, -5.893855
Monitoring continued with Phase 2 of the Aquarius Project, which involved the replacement of the water main between Belfast and Temple, Co. Down. To date, two sites have been excavated.
Site 1 consisted of a slot-trench and three associated post-holes, c. 4m long and with an average depth of 0.3m. Neolithic pottery was recorded within the fill of the slot. The slot was heavily truncated by several large features of a later date, some of which are believed to be animal disturbance.
Site 2 consisted of the heavily truncated remains of a fulacht fiadh situated within a bend in an old river course. A trough measuring 0.9m by 0.75m was cut into subsoil to a depth of 0.5m. Immediately to the north of this, the remains of a burnt mound were recorded. The mound was heavily truncated to the north by the cut of a modern river channel, created as a result of straightening the old channel. The site was covered over with a series of alluvial deposits, which contained burnt mound material.
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