County: Tyrone Site name: RNI05 A4/A5, Site 17, Cullenfad/ Mullaghbane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/06/105, AE/06/275
Author: Mike Kimber, Headland Archaeology Ltd, 13 Jane Street, Edinburgh EH6 4AP.
Site type: Bronze Age ring-ditches, settlement, burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 673795m, N 859974m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.482861, -6.861204
Trial-trenching was carried out in June 2006 along the line of the upgraded A4 between 27335 35997 and 27385 35999 under licence AE/06/105. Further investigations at the east end of this area, in Cullenfad townland, was carried out under licence AE/06/275 between January and July 2007.
Three ring-ditches, between 13m and 17m in external diameter, were excavated at 27384 35997. The features were plough-truncated but evidence from the ditch fills indicated the former presence of external earthen banks and interior stone cairns or banks in each case. A fourth ring-ditch, only 2m in diameter, was also seen. Bronze Age pottery was recovered from the ditch fills and the features are interpreted as funerary monuments, although no human remains were encountered.
A cluster of stake-holes and shallow pits was identified downslope of the ring-ditches at 27386 35999, adjacent to an L-shaped gully that appears to be part of a small enclosure.
In the valley below, at 27391 35997, a burnt mound was excavated on the edge of peat deposits beside a small stream. Features associated with the burnt mound included a waterlogged and well-preserved wooden trough.
