Burnt mound in Cherryville

'Site 5', Cherryville was excavated (Thaddeus C. Breen, Licence No. 01E0583: www.excavations.ie) and found to consist of a spread of burnt stone in charcoal-rich soil. It measured 13m by 6m. The stone was mostly sandstone. It overlay a somewhat more extensive grey silty layer. Fifteen pieces of flint, including both artefacts and waste flakes, were found in this lower layer. To the west of the burnt spread was a layer of yellow clay with a large quantity of angular pieces of unburnt sandstone, resembling crude cobbling. The site was crossed by a series of spade cultivation furrows. A stone lancehead was found in the fill of one of these, where it cut through the burnt spread. Underlying and near the burnt spread were 23 pits (there were also further irregular hollows which are more likely to have been natural). Most of the pits were shallow (0.2-0.3m deep) and round or oval in shape. Stake-holes were present in the base of some, in one case round the edge, but in other cases not so linked to the shape of the pit. There were also groups of stake-holes not associated with pits. Two particularly deep pits were found at the western edge of the site, 6.5m west of the burnt spread, partly overlapped by the stony layer. They were approximately oval in plan, just under 2m in maximum diameter, and up to 1.3m deep. They contained a number of fills, including some burnt stone and charcoal, and some unburnt animal bones. During the initial monitoring, a stone axehead was found in the area between the burnt spread and a stream to the south. No other archaeological remains were found there. In the area to the east of the burnt spread, stretching between it and 'Site 6', (KD022-107----) a number of miscellaneous pits and stake-holes were found. One shallow, circular pit, 1.8m in diameter, was subsequently cut by an oval pit with a maximum diameter of 1.59m. The fills of the latter included a layer of charcoal-rich soil with burnt stone. Nearby was a sunken rectangular structure measuring 2.6m by 1.6m. It was 0.15-0.2m deep and had a post-hole at each corner. Immediately outside, halfway along one side, was a stone measuring 0.48m by 0.25m by 0.25m, upright as if deliberately set in the ground, though no cut could be discerned. There were no finds in this structure, nor was there any stratigraphical indication of its relationship to other features on the site. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 23 November 2011