County: Antrim Site name: Halls Pig Farm, Rae Hill Road (Ballyearl), Newtownabbey
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: AE/16/224
Author: Stephen Gilmore
Site type: Bronze Age burnt mounds
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 732084m, N 886312m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.707540, -5.950362
Two burnt mounds were uncovered during test trenching. Burnt Mound 1 comprised three troughs and the partial remains of a circular mound. Troughs 1 and 2 were circular and Trough 3 was sub-rectangular. The radiocarbon determination from charcoal from fill F9 from Trough 1 returned a date of 3860+/- 30BP. At 2-sigma calibration this provided at date range of 2461-2276 cal BC (84.3% likelihood,) and 2254-2210 cal BC (at 11.1% likelihood). A radiocarbon determination from charcoal from fill F16 from Trough 3 returned a date of 3940+/- 30BP. At 2-sigma calibration this provided at date range of 2565-2532 cal BC (at 8.9% likelihood) 2496-2338 cal BC (at 85.2% likelihood) and 2321-2309 cal BC (at 1.4% likelihood). A middle to late Neolithic hollow scraper was recovered from a secure fill in Trough 3. This was unburnt and must have been deliberately deposited.
Burnt Mound 2 comprised a rectangular trough associated with a sub-rectangular mound. The remains of two corner posts and a wall plank were recovered in the trough base. The wooden post F36 from the base of the trough of Burnt Mound 2 returned a date of 2830+/-30 BP. When calibrated this returned a date range of 1083–1065 cal BC (at 1.8% likelihood) and 1058-906 cal BC at (93.6% likelihood).
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