County: Antrim Site name: Drumakeely (A26 Road Scheme)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: AE/14/033
Author: Sarah Nicol
Site type: Mesolithic House, Iron Age ring barrow
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706348m, N 913157m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.954726, -6.339651
The site was located in the townland of Drumakeely on the western side of the A26 Frosses Road, immediately to the south of the B64 Station Road, Glarryford. This area comprised Early Mesolithic transient activity, a Late Mesolithic circular structure and an Iron Age ring ditch. The area was situated 81m above sea level in a flat field which was part of the Cloughwater River flood plain. The river meanders through the field running generally south-east/north-west, although at the location of the site it looped round from south-west to the north-east and back towards the south-west.
It was clear by the sequence of cut archaeological features and silt layers that there was at least three phases of activity on the site. Radiocarbon dating highlighted that the site was in use from the Early Mesolithic through to the Iron Age. The site contained 58 features; as very few of these features had any stratigraphic relationship and only six of them were radiocarbon dated, the chronology of the site was based on interpretation of spatial relationships
Mesolithic features
The Mesolithic level comprised a series of cut and fill features interpreted as a sub-circular hut and a number of other pit and gully features which dated from the later Early Mesolithic (7061-6899 cal BC) through to the middle of the Late Mesolithic period (4622-4486 cal BC).
The hut site was located at the very western edge of the road-take, adjacent to the Cloughwater River. The hut was not quite complete with a few of the pits forming the outer edge of the structure lying just off the site, to the west. The hut measured approximately 9m north / south and 8m east / west, with the entrance facing to the east. It consisted of an oval ring of structural postholes for the roof surrounded by a series of pits some of which have been interpreted as being part of the exterior wall of the hut. Within the ring of postholes was a series of four pits and a large stone. From the radiocarbon dates it was clear that both the post holes and pits were of Late Mesolithic date.
Iron Age Features
The largest of all the features within the area was ring ditch C1039 (Pl. 1, Fig 6) which was circular in plan and measured 7.10m in diameter. The ditch measured 0.85m - 1.10m wide by 0.20m - 0.36m deep, the base of the ditch was flat and the sides were near vertical. The ditch was cut through the silting layer, it contained two fills. The basal fill was firm, gritty, dark brown gravelly silt, with charcoal flecking and chunks and frequent small gravel inclusions. A radiocarbon date obtained from charcoal returned an Iron Age date of 375-203 BC (Beta-381058). Overlying the basal fill was a layer of material indistinguishable from the second layer of silt which covered the site (F1183).
Finally on the western limit of the site there was a small section of a curving gully, it cut both the silting layer and pit. If the line of the gully were projected as if it were a ring ditch it would have a diameter of 4.30m. Given its stratigraphic location it is likely that this was a second Iron Age ring ditch although it was much smaller than.
A full article was published in Archaeology ireland Volume 30 No. 1 Issue NO. 115 Spring 2016
See also Woodman 2015 "Irelands First Settlers" pages 9,79, 135, 143-144, 246 and 305.
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