County: Tyrone Site name: RNI05 A4/A5, Site 28, Mullaghbane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/07/64
Author: Kirsty Dingwall, Headland Archaeology Ltd, 13 Jane Street, Edinburgh EH6 4AP.
Site type: Prehistoric settlement and ring-ditches; ringfort; souterrain
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 665427m, N 857910m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.465462, -6.990780
Trial-trenching was carried out on the line of the upgraded A4, between 26544 35781 and 26552 35797, in April 2007. Features including a massive enclosure ditch were identified, and a full excavation was carried out between June and August 2007.
The site comprised three prehistoric ring-ditches of likely Middle or Late Bronze Age date and a scatter of individual cremation deposits. Finds from across the site, including a saddle quern found in the backfill of a later feature, seem to indicate that domestic settlement of a similar period was located nearby.
The Early Christian features included the north-western half of an enclosure, probably circular with an internal diameter of 58m, with its central point at 26552 35790, defined by a ditch 3–4m wide and up to 1.5m deep. This feature is interpreted as a ringfort. An earth-cut souterrain was excavated in the ringfort interior. Evidence of settlement activity within the ringfort included clusters of stake-holes and pits.
