2016:027 - Millbrook Manor, Finvoy Road, Ballymoney, Antrim

The site comprised a single stretch of curving Bronze Age ditch. This section of ditch was a continuation of a ditch that was originally excavated in 2006 under licence AE/05/160 Although only two sections of ditch were present the line and orientation of the ditches would indicate that they would have originally joined with the two sections of ditch uncovered during excavations in 2006. The four separate sections of ditch that have been excavated over the past 10 years originally formed a large enclosure measuring c.31m x c.26m. The enclosure would appear to have had at least two entrances, or an entrance and an exit, with the larger (main?) entrance being located in to the south-east and the minor entrance (exit?) located to the north-west. The larger south-east entrance measured c.3m wide while the smaller north-west entrance only c.1m wide. On the basis of the excavated remains it is probable that the enclosure was formed from two separate sections of ditch, though if further entrances or exits were present in the unexcavated sections of ditch this could be increased.

The purpose of this enclosure is unclear. It is likely that it has been truncated and that originally the interior would have been slightly higher and the enclosing ditch deeper. If this was the case then smaller, discreet features would have been removed. The enclosure appears to be too large and the wrong shape for the Bronze Age ring barrow, most being circular and not oval or sub-square as is the case at this site. If the site had been used for burial and had subsequently been truncated then further evidence would have been expected, burnt bone, fragments of pottery from urns, etc. This would suggest that rather than burial the site was some form of settlement enclosure. If the houses were constructed using wattle and daub, or possibly even turf walls, these can leave little trace within the archaeological record. If the site was truncated then the pit, C21, excavated during 2016, may actually be the base of a post-hole. This may suggest the presence of a gate at the entrance/exit and again act as further indication that the enclosure was used for habitation. Similarly, the presence of iron slag within the fill of the ditch of the 2006 excavation is an indicator of industrial activity, again an occupation associated with habitation rather than funerary activities. Settlement enclosures are known from Bronze Age Ireland. At Ballyveelish, Co. Tipperary a sub-rectangular enclosure measuring 47m long and 25m wide was found to date to 1130-810 BC (Waddell 2000, 205-206). In the section that was excavated there was no evidence for any structures, but coarse pottery was recovered from the ditch (Waddell 2000, 206). Another enclosure ditch was excavated at Carrigillihy, Co. Cork. Here the enclosure measured 24m by 21m and an oval house, constructed using stone, was present within the interior. Charred twigs from a pit within the house and a spread of habitation material returned radiocarbon dates of 1510-1220 BC and 1130-850 BC (Waddell 2000, 210).

Two radiocarbon dates have been returned for the enclosure, one from each of the two excavations. A radiocarbon determination of 801-485 BC, when calibrated at 2 sigma, (Beta-223898) was returned from material from the 2006 excavation while a date of 1120-970 BC and 955-940 BC, when calibrated at 2 sigma, (Beta-438331) was returned from the 2016 excavation. In examining the stratigraphic location of the radiocarbon dates the 2006 date was taken from a layer that was higher, and therefore more recent, in the stratigraphy. Although the 2016 radiocarbon date was not taken from a basal layer it was taken from a layer which immediately overlay the basal layer. The type of fill that was dated should also be taken into consideration. The material that was dated from the 2006 excavation was a single isolated deposit, possibly a hearth that had been created within the ditch after it had already partially filled up. The 2016 excavation date was returned from a layer which continued for several meters, was present in several sections and had been deposited after the first initial slump deposit (no dateable material was available from the very base of the ditch). On the basis of the available radiocarbon dates it is probable that the enclosure was created during the Middle Bronze Age at the latest, with the ditch starting to silt up during the late Bronze Age. It is of note that the radiocarbon date returned from the 2016 excavation, and the date which is probably contemporaneous with the occupation of the enclosure, corresponds with the dates from the sites at Ballyveelish, Co. Tipperary and Carrigillihy, Co. Cork (Waddell 2000, 205-206 & 210). This may add further credence to the belief that the enclosure at Finvoy Road was indeed used for settlement and not for burial.

CONCLUSIONS

The 2016 excavation confirmed the belief that the two sections of ditch excavated in 2006 originally formed part of a much larger enclosure. It can now be shown that this enclosure was larger than originally anticipated and was actually oval or sub-rectangular in shape. Charcoal from the ditch returned a radiocarbon date of 1120-940 BC, which corresponds to similar late Bronze Age enclosures. On the basis of the dates and their similarity it would seem that these enclosures, usually containing a single dwelling, started to appear around 1150 BC. Unfortunately due to previous truncation of the land any possible house structure had been removed prior to excavation.

REFERENCE 

Waddell, J. (2000) The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, 2nd edn., Bray: Wordwell Ltd.

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