County: Antrim Site name: A6 Dualling Randalstown to Castledawson (Site 3) (Artreshnahan)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: ANT 049:016 Licence number: AE/16/160
Author: Colin Dunlop
Site type: Early medieval hearth, possible tree ring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706604m, N 889387m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.741196, -6.344422
Site 3 contained one charcoal-rich pit which has been interpreted as a large hearth. The pit was oval: 3m long, 0.8m wide and 0.2m deep, orientated east to west. A single sherd of pottery recovered from the pit was most probably early medieval in date but due to its small size and abraded nature this could not be categorically stated. It should also be noted that there was no evidence for the enclosure which was marked on the 2nd edition OS map at this location and designated as being the location of a destroyed enclosure (ANT 049:016). No ditch, bank or internal features were present and as such this map feature has been interpreted as a tree ring. As this feature was isolated it was not deemed an appropriate use of resources to undertake any radiocarbon dating or further analysis on this feature.
NAC, Farset Enterprise Park, 638 Springfield Road, Belfast, BT12 7DY