County: Armagh Site name: TIMAKEEL: Scotch Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/03/78
Author: Simon Large, Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Ring-ditch
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 696390m, N 855760m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.441221, -6.514009
Monitoring of this site suggested a circular, possibly penannular, ditch, with a diameter of c. 4.5m. A number of pottery sherds were recovered from a small section of the upper fill. A number of smaller pits and linear features were also noted. A series of trenches was cut through the ditch area. The ditch was c. 0.8m wide, c. 0.5m deep and flat-bottomed.
Trench 1 excavated the area associated with the upper-fill pottery finds. In total some 134 pieces of Late Bronze Age pottery were recovered. Preliminary analysis suggests that at least two pots were in close association. The fill from Trench 1 is being evaluated for possible organic remains. Trench 6 also contained several sherds of similar pottery from the same period. Burnt timber, charcoal and burnt-bone fragments were also recovered from various locations within the ditch fill. A substantial quantity of flint was recovered from the fill; an end scraper and a blade were the only worked pieces. An entrance through the ditch, 0.5m wide, was in the north-west. Excavation suggested modification to the opening over time. The terminus on the eastern side was rounded. The western side had a later addition, an arm extending to the north-west of c. 2.5m, where it was truncated by a modern drain.
The stratification of the ditch fill suggested a central mound with a possible stone kerb which had slipped into the ditch after abandonment. The central area was devoid of archaeological features. Two of the outlying pits proved to be archaeological, but their association with the ring-ditch cannot be confirmed at this time.
Unit 33, Farset Enterprise Park, 638 Springfield Road, Belfast, BT12 7DY
