2014:327 - Lisnasoo (Sites 3 and 4) A26 Road Scheme, Antrim

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Antrim Site name: Lisnasoo (Sites 3 and 4) A26 Road Scheme

Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: AE/14/43

Author: Sarah Nicol

Site type: Bronze Age and Iron Age burnt mounds

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 705599m, N 917107m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.990360, -6.349885

LISNASOO (SITE 3) EXCAVATION
The site was located on the eastern side of the A26 Frosses Road 565m north of the Lisnasoo Road and 35m south of Lisnasoo (Site 4). The features were situated on a small plateau on the side of a gently sloping hill, at the bottom of which was a stream and an area of peat. The subsoil was glacial till on the plateau with glacial clay at the bottom of the hill to the east.
The site consisted of two burnt mound spreads (F840, F843) with one of the spreads (F840) covering a trough (C841). The southernmost feature was a spread of burnt mound material (F840) which measured 4.8m long, 3.8m wide and 0.05-0.31m deep, orientated north-south. The spread covered an unlined circular trough (C841) which measured 1.1m in diameter by 0.52m deep. The sides of the trough were smooth and near vertical and the base was flat.
To the north of the first burnt mound spread was a second (F843) which measured 4.5m long, 3.62m wide and 0.1m deep, orientated east-north-east/west-south-west. A radiocarbon date from charred wood returned an Early Iron Age date of 751–408 BC (Beta-388970).
The site at Lisnasoo (Site 3) differs from Lisnasoo (Site 4) in that it only has one small trough. The area within which the burnt mounds were uncovered is typical for this kind of feature, on the edge of a bog next to a stream. The location would have allowed for a ready supply of fresh water into the trough and an easy way of disposing of old, dirty water. The trough on site did not appear to be self-filling, for instance it did not go below the water table. Although it was not a self-filling trough it held water very well without lining. Burnt mound spreads and their troughs are measured for volume so that an estimate of minimum number of uses can be obtained. The volume of the small trough (C841) was 0.63m2 and its spread (F840) was 3.65m2 which gives us enough material to fill the trough six times. If we again use Buckley's (1990) experiments then the site contained enough material for approximately 120 heatings. As there was no trough with the second spread this measurement cannot be calculated. Small circular unlined burnt mound troughs are not uncommon during the Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age in Ireland (Ó Néill 2009, 120).
This site is interesting as most burnt mound spreads in Ireland date to the Bronze Age (ibid, 39), although the dates for burnt mounds range from the Neolithic through to the Early Medieval period (Grogan et al. 2007, 96).

LISNASOO (SITE 4) EXCAVATION
The site was located 35m north of Lisnasoo (Site 3). The features were situated at the bottom of a gently sloping hill on a small rise to the west of an area of boggy ground. Running through the site was a small fast-flowing stream and due to environmental concerns a 5m exclusion zone was put in place. Unfortunately this meant that some of the troughs could not be fully excavated. The subsoil in the immediate area was a concreted glacial till with some iron pan; off the small rise to the west and south the subsoil became glacial clay.
The site consisted of a large burnt mound spread (F800/F801) which covered all of the archaeological features; this spread probably represented several smaller spreads which have merged into one over time due to natural soil movement and agricultural practices. Underlying the spread were four burnt mound troughs (C802, C809, re-cut C997 and C815), there were 11 pits, three stake-holes to the south, three stake-holes in the base of trough C802 and 106 other stake-holes that lay to the west of trough C802.

The features could be separated into two periods:
1. Early Bronze Age 2209-2035 BC (Beta-382839)and 2201–2024 BC (Beta-382840): Trough C809, three pits (C824, C860, and C874), trough C802 with three wooden stakes in the base, a stake-built windbreak made up of 11 stake-holes running west from the northern edge of trough C802 and an area of trampled and burnt subsoil (F986) to the south of the windbreak. Trough C802 had another phase; to the west of the trough were 106 stake-holes, 73 stake-holes cut the earlier spread (F986) with a further 34 stake-holes in the area. As these were unlikely to be contemporary an analysis was done on size and depth, this highlighted an oval structure with internal divisions which used 21 stake-holes and another fence line using nine stake-holes.
2. Middle Bronze Age 1545–1425 BC (Beta-385659): A new trough C815, a re-cut of trough C809 - C997, five pits (C813, C822, C830, C832, and C863), a hearth (C836) and three stake-holes to the west of the troughs.

Finally to the north of the main complex was a pit (C867) which could not be attributed to either phase.
Overlying the whole site were two layers of material, the uppermost of which was a layer of topsoil and burnt mound material which was mixed with agricultural debris and modern rubbish (F800). The first purely archaeological layer was burnt mound spread F801 which measured 19.75m long, 5.9m wide and 0.1–0.35m deep, orientated north-east/south-west. This spread covered all but two of the features identified in the area (C863 and C867), given its size and the number of troughs it is likely to be an an amalgamation of all of the burnt mound spreads associated with the four troughs.

References:

Buckley,
Buckley, V M 1990 ‘Experiments using a reconstructed fulacht with a variety of rock types: implications for the petromorphology of fulacht fiadh’ in Buckley, V M (ed.) 1990 Burnt Offerings: International Contributions to Burnt Mound Archaeology. Dublin pp. 170-172.
Grogan, E, O’Donnell, L, & Johnston, P 2007 The Bronze Age Landscapes of the Pipeline to the West, Wicklow.
Ó Néill, J 2009 Burnt Mounds in Northern and Western Europe: A study of prehistoric technology and society. Germany.
Barkley, j and Nicol, S. UJA 2016 (forthcoming).

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