2006:27 - BALLYPITMAVE, Antrim

This site consisted of a spread of burnt-mound material, which measured 7.7m north–south by 5.6m, and associated trough. The surviving burnt-mound material lay within an oval depression, 7.5m north–south by 5.9m by 0.16m deep, which may have been a natural waterlogged depression. The oval cut for the trough, which had been cut through a layer of waterlogged brown clay into the underlying subsoil, was situated at the south edge of the depression and measured 1.9m north–south by 1.42m by 1.2m deep. A deliberately infilled layer of sticky brown clay sealed the basal fill, which was a 0.4m-thick layer of grey waterlogged clay containing medium-sized to large stones. The trough measured 1.2m north–south by 1m, with seven roughly worked planks on the base and wattle-lined sides. Upright planks had been inserted at the opposing (north and south) ends, with the cut ends of the wattle lining fed in behind. The overall impression of the feature is of a bathtub rather than a cooking trough. The gap behind the wattle lining and the upright planks had been packed with sticky brown clay.

Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast, BT12 5BJ