County: Antrim Site name: WALNUT HOLLOW (Phase II), Ballyboley
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/02/57
Author: Robert M. Chapple, for NAC Ltd.
Site type: Prehistoric site - lithic scatter
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 737780m, N 903620m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.861419, -5.853821
Monitored topsoil-stripping took place during June 2002 at the ‘Walnut Hollow’ (Phase II) development site, before the construction of residential properties by Moore Homes Ltd. The development site was c. 2km west of Larne, to the north-east of the Ballymullock and Ballyboley water reservoirs. It consisted of two fields, the northern one of which was c. 75% covered by peat bog. During the removal of this peaty material an area of c. 10m by 12m, containing a spread of lithic debitage at a level below the peat bog, was discovered (c. 100m OD).
Excavation, during August 2002, revealed that the site was a small, sub-oval area c. 4.4m (north–south) by c. 3.88m, covering an area of c. 10.37m2. This area was a naturally raised platform c. 0.2–0.3m above the surrounding gravelly subsoil. Although no cut features were identified, 58 pieces of struck flint were recovered lying on the subsoil surface. A further eighteen pieces were discovered within the surrounding peat. All of the recovered flint was confined to the upper surface and edges of the platform area. The assemblage is composed wholly of preparation flakes and debitage, with no finished artefacts.
At present it is thought that this natural platform represented a slightly dryer location within a small area of marshland. It is also suggested that, given its location, flintworking was a secondary function of the site, the primary function perhaps as being a wildfowling platform. At the time of writing, the lithic assemblage had not been expertly examined, and thus no secure date may yet be offered.
19 Irwin Drive, Belfast BT4 3AR
