Burnt mound in Cookstown Great

This is burnt mound B where there were numerous pits cut into the subsoil, but one oval pit (dims 2.2m x 1.5m; D 0.72m) with a basal fill of a charcoal-rich soil and heat affected stones is thought to be a trough or water-hole. There is a posthole and a stakehole at opposite edges, and a fragment of alder charcoal from the fill returned a date of 1912-1742 cal. BC (UBA 11097). A shallow scoop (dims 1.7m x 1.5m; D 0.25m) just to the W is probably a natural hollow and was filled with a charcoal-rich soil that had heat-affected stones. Three subcircular pits (dims 1m x 0.83m; D 0.35m: dims 1.38m x 1.25m; D 0.35m: dims 1.34m x 1.24m; D 0.5m) and a subrectangular (1.4m x 1.23m; D 0.36m) one, all within 4m of the water hole and with fills of black silty sand beneath burnt mound material might have been troughs, but none has any associated stakeholes or postholes. Other irregularly-shaped pits (dims 3.53m x 1.63m; D 0.23m: dims 2.8m x 1.4m; D 0.35m) filled with redeposited natural, silt and heat-affected stone are thought to be the result of root action. Numerous spreads of broken and burnt stone in a black matrix extended (dims 18m N-S; 2-5m E-W; D 0.04-0.13m) over the features but two of the possible troughs were outside it to the E. (McLoughlin 2010, 15-18) See the attached plans adapted from McLoughlin 2020 (figs 5, 13) ME017-089_1 Location; ME017-089005-_1 Plan; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 23 March 2022

Burnt mound (type B), likely dating to the Neolithic or early Bronze Age. It represents evidence of heat-related activity, possibly for ritual, industrial, or domestic purposes, and contributes to understanding of prehistoric land use in the region.