2000:1083 - BALLYNAMUDDAGH, Bray, Wicklow

The site was in Ballynamuddagh townland, at the top of a steeply sloped field, on the north-western face of Bray Head, Co. Wicklow. It was a previously unknown site identified during systematic field-walking carried out as part of an archaeological site assessment before the development of an 18-hole golf-course (see Excavations 2000, No. 1079). It initially appeared as a relatively high concentration of lithic material scattered on the surface of the ploughsoil and a fragment of a jet bracelet, which was recovered c. 60m to the north of the lithic concentration. Because part of the area in which this concentration occurred was due to be disturbed by the development of one of the fairways. Test-pits were excavated in order to define the extent, character and condition of any archaeological remains within or beneath the ploughsoil before the mechanical removal of the ploughsoil. Excavation of 43 1m2 test-pits was carried out from 18 to 29 September 2000. Further lithic material was recovered from the ploughsoil, but no archaeological features were found. During the subsequent archaeological monitoring of the mechanical topsoil-stripping no archaeological features were uncovered. However, a probable hoard of flint (and chert) was uncovered during monitoring.

The hoard
A large concentration of lithic material was uncovered within a small area less than 0.5m2. This material consists of 109 lithics, mainly flint with two pieces of chert. The lithics were not recovered from within a definite archaeological context but occurred in the interface between the topsoil and the very stony subsoil. Careful examination of the area did not reveal any evidence of a subsoil-cut pit; however, the large number of pieces and their containment within such a small area make it likely that the lithics were deposited as a discrete group or hoard of material. The material was probably originally deposited in a small pit that was subsequently damaged by agricultural activity.

The hoard comprises 41 cores, 60 flakes, 6 scrapers and 2 spalls. While the two pieces of chert were found to re-fit, having come from the same core, this does not appear to be the case with any of the pieces of flint. This collection mainly comprises unexhausted cores and utilised and unutilised flakes, 60% of which were broken. None of the flint flakes appears to have been removed from the cores in this hoard. This, in addition to the absence of the smaller elements of knapping debitage, indicates that the hoard was not deposited as a result of knapping in situ. Instead it represents a group of lithics collected at another location and deliberately deposited. Perhaps it was intended to store them for future use and they were subsequently forgotten. This hoard is most likely indicative of prehistoric activity, although no definite diagnostic pieces were unearthed that would allow a secure assignment of the material to a particular period or periods.

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