2006:6 - BALLYBENTRAGH, Antrim

The substantial remains of a burnt-mound complex discovered on low-lying ground on the west side of Paradise Walk, to the north of the Hilton Hotel at Templepatrick, consisted of a large spread of sticky black clay measuring 14.3m north-east/south-west by 10m. The burnt-mound material sealed three large, deep, wood-lined pits cut into subsoil and aligned on a common south-west/north-east axis. All three pits had been lined with thin branches of hazel woven around wooden uprights to retain the sides of the pits. Two of the pits had cut, but otherwise unworked, branches on the base, but the third, at the south-west end of the complex, had substantial finely worked planks laid down to form its base.

The largest pit, which lay at the south-west end of the complex, measured 2.9m by 1.7m by 0.66m deep and had a box on its north-east lip constructed of roundwood timbers and two flat pieces of unworked timber on its base. A shallow kidney-shaped hollow that was 1.4m north–south by 0.5–0.7m by 0.1m deep abutted the pit on its south corner. The central pit was the smallest, measuring 1.8m by 1.42m by 0.54m deep, while the third, at the north end, measured 2.7m by 2.7m by 1.1m deep. A shallow subrectangular pit, which measured 1.8m south-west/north-east by 0.8m by 0.2m deep, was situated 1.15m to the north-east of the last pit. All three large pits had been deliberately infilled with alternating layers of organic-rich soil, large stones and timbers, while the short box had five large stones placed on its base. The whole complex had then been covered with the burnt-mound material. The complex, with its linear arrangement, seems more likely to have been used for an industrial purpose than for cooking.

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