2005:372 - KEENTAGH, Millin Bay, Down

Geophysical survey and small-scale test excavations were undertaken in the field to the south of the Millin Bay Neolithic mortuary monument in 2004–5, with the goal of better understanding the extent, function and date of the drystone wall noted as underlying the cairn in the original excavations by Collins and Waterman (1955).

The excavations have been only partly successful. Large stones that can reasonably be attributed to a collapsed wall structure (the deposits are otherwise nearly pure sand) were identified in only the two trenches nearest the monument (within some 5m). Unexpected were the pit features with slightly darker fills and charcoal fragments that were encountered in all three trenches at a level above the remnant wall; these have now been shown to be of late medieval/early modern date. Finds were limited to a single struck flint from what is tentatively interpreted as a raised shingle beach deposit in Trench 2, and a corroded piece of modern iron from Trench 3. For reasons unknown, geophysical survey did not prove very useful in identifying buried features, including the raised beach deposit found in Trench 2. Nor did the geophysical survey locate the partially intact wall section noted by Collins and Waterman at a distance of some 13.7m south of the monument. The absence of a buried land surface at the base of the wall remnant precluded the possibility of investigating the nature of the old land surface and any possible soil differences to either side of the wall. The small extent of the excavations (three 2m by 1m test-trenches) and the unexpected depth of the remnant wall (from 0.4–1m) also made a full appreciation of the spread and arrangement of the larger stones difficult. Any future investigation should seek to open a wider area to investigate the full extent of the remnant wall.

The next stage of the project involves an investigation of the environmental context of the site, in order to try to understand the use of the immediate surrounding landscape at the time of the construction of the drystone wall. Pollen investigations are being undertaken by Dr Gill Plunkett in a wetland area within a few hundred metres of the site and a possible buried soil horizon in an adjacent field is to be investigated in 2006. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples collected from sediments above and below the remnant wall and within the raised beach are being dated. These may provide some additional information on the rate of accumulation of the sand dune and its relationship with the drystone wall. This new phase of research is funded by the Heritage Council. Dates are also being obtained on the small surviving human bone assemblage from the Millin Bay monument (funded by NERC through the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Dating Service) and the results should be available shortly.

Reference
Collins, A.E.P. and Waterman, D.M. 1955 Millin Bay, a Late Neolithic cairn in Co. Down. Belfast.

Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN