County: Antrim Site name: ANTRIM: Junction 1, Ballymena road, Town Parks
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 50:155 Licence number: AE/02/48
Author: Beverly Ballin Smith, GUARD, Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow
Site type: House - prehistoric
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 714549m, N 887732m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.724588, -6.221749
An evaluation of the site in March and April 2002, followed by an excavation over two weeks in July, revealed two round houses on the edge of the flood-plain of Lough Neagh.
One round house (Area B) lay at a height of c. 17m OD, but its western edge had been truncated by a modern ditch. The features of the house were badly truncated owing to ploughing, tree roots and animal burrowing, and they survived no deeper than 0.38m. This round house survived as an ephemeral wall slot c. 9.5m in diameter with no discernible entrance. Two small post-holes were noted in the slot, indicating the location of wall posts. The house had eight internal post-holes, seven of which were distributed evenly in a ring within the interior of the house. The post-holes varied from 0.4m to 2m in diameter. A linear, slightly S-shaped feature lay parallel to the house wall in the northern part of the building. Toward either end of the feature was a small post- or stake-hole. This may be evidence of the location of a weaving frame. Artefacts from within the features of the house include ceramic sherds, flint and a stone grinder.
The Area C building was not as well preserved as that in Area B, also because of animal and root activity. It also lay close to the 17m contour. A faint penannular wall slot indicated that the building was also c. 9.5m in diameter. A 1m-wide entrance breached the wall slot in the south-east, marked by two post-holes. Both post-holes were slightly recessed within the alignment of the wall slot and were paired internally at a distance of c. 1m by two more post-holes. Only one other certain post-hole remained of a possible internal ring of posts. Close to the house wall in the north-west, and opposite the entrance, was a large, circular, flat-bottomed pit. It measured c. 1.5m in diameter and had been completely lined with oak timber. Three pits in the west quadrant of the house indicated the site of a fire-pit or hearth complex. Finds from the house included charcoal and flint.
Some isolated post-holes survived outside both houses, perhaps indicating the remnants of related structures or fence-lines.
Post-excavation analysis of the structures, finds and samples is in progress.
The work was undertaken on behalf of Junction One Ltd, which has kindly funded the project.
Glasgow, G12 8QQ
