2010:644 - Mulnahunch, Tyrone

The proposed development lies within the road-take of the ongoing DBFO 2, Scheme 3, Dungannon to Ballygawley road scheme. The proposed development relates to the realignment of the new dual carriageway at Cabragh off the Ballygawley Road near Dungannon in County Tyrone.
The entire take of the road route was subject to archaeological mitigation in advance of construction in 2008. Sixty-two areas of archaeological potential were identified during the monitored topsoil-strip. Of these, Area 46 was uncovered between chainages 10100–10130, on the edge of boggy ground approximately 40m to the south of the proposed road realignment. The features excavated in Area 46 comprised three separate spreads of burnt material interpreted as the truncated remains of burnt mounds or fulachta fiadh, which generally date to the Bronze Age, although the recovery of the Neolithic leaf-shaped flint arrowhead from the southern edge of one of the spreads may indicate an earlier date for this site. Five medium- to small-sized pits were also uncovered uphill, which contained large amounts of charcoal and were interpreted as rubbish pits.
The archaeological investigations at the road realignment site in Cabragh commenced with the monitoring of the topsoil removal during July 2010. The subsequent archaeological excavation took place in July 2010 and was concentrated on three areas identified during the topsoil-stripping.
Area 1
This area was located close to the previously investigated Area 46 and in the low-lying area to the south-west of Area 3 and west of Area 2. During the monitoring of topsoil removal in the area several spreads of burnt material were encountered sealing cut features below.
The best preserved of the features was a pit containing a wooden trough. The pit was subrectangular, with a well-preserved rectangular wooden trough/vat at the base. The trough was supported and secured in place by upright stakes. Single upright stakes were driven into the back corners of the eastern end of the features, whereas double stakes were driven into the western corners of the pit. The double stakes have been interpreted as supports for a removable sluice gate for the trough. Horizontal and upright timber planks forming the base and sides of the trough also survive. Planks had been laid horizontally to make the base. Upright planks were laid on their side for the south, east and north sides of the trough. The remains of a further plank, possibly part of the removable sluice gate, were also discovered on the western end. Clayey fill, possibly representing clay lining and water proving, was recorded between the side timbers and the pit cut. A sandy silt lining was recorded below the base timbers and is thought to represent silting filtered down in between the planks.
A further rectangular pit of similar proportions was excavated just to the north. A total of four stake-holes were recorded internal to the pit, one in each corner. However, no remains of upright timbers or planks were encountered. It is likely that the feature represents another trough/vat. The lack of surviving timbers would suggest that the timbers were removed once the feature fell out of use. Several further stake-holes external to and probably associated with this pit were also excavated. Stake-holes had been driven in just west of the western edge of the pit and stake-holes were encountered to the east of the feature. Altogether, these may represent structures erected to provide cover for the trough or racks to suspend objects above it.
This pit was then truncated by an elongated oval-shaped feature the base of which showed evidence of in situ burning and has been interpreted as a hearth.
A substantial cut feature was excavated cutting into the hillside just west of the troughs. The feature had a flat base and was relatively shallow. The base of the feature exposed an outcrop of underlying bedrock beneath the natural glacial boulder clay. In addition two stake-holes were cut into the bedrock at the edge of the feature (north-west), which has been preliminarily interpreted as deliberate effort to create a large flat surface to function as a working area or shelter associated with the nearby fulacht activity.
A shallow charcoal-rich oval pit was encountered in the northern end of Area 1 which had been heavily truncated by a later field boundary ditch. The ditch was aligned roughly north–south and its exposed extent ran for some 20m.
Area 2
Archaeological features encountered in Area 2 comprised three shallow pits and the remains of a shallow, possibly curvilinear feature. All four features were located within an area measuring approximately 5m x 6m.
Area 3
This was the largest of the excavation areas and located on the top of a drumlin, north-east of Area 2 and north-west of Area 1. The features excavated within Area 3 comprised nine pits (two clusters of three pits, two intercutting and one isolated pit) as well as a large field boundary ditch. The exposed length of the boundary ditch running across the centre of the excavation area measured 20m. Although no datable finds were recovered from the fills, the ditch itself is likely to date to the post-medieval period.
Summary
The excavation has shown a considerable survival of archaeological features and deposits in the area. The earliest activity identified dates to the Bronze Age period and comprises fulacht fiadh (burnt mound) activity. The next phase of activity dates to the post-medieval period and takes the form of field boundaries and ditches. The latest activity on-site is also agricultural and consists of modern field drains.