Mound in Clowanstown (skreen By., Skreen Ed.)

Located in a fairly level landscape at the W edge of what was probably a small lake (dims c. 1.5km NW-SE; c. 0.75m NE-SW) which is described as the ‘Logh and bog of Shrereene’ on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map and as a ‘Marl Bed’ (max. dims c. 0.5km E-W; c 0.4km N-S) on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The original lake was probably coterminous with Commons (Skreen by.) townland. Archaeological testing (04E0418) by J. Dempsey of Testing Area 4, Contract 2, prior to the construction of the M3 motorway identified four upstanding mounds of organic material and marl. Mound A (dims 10.05m N-S; 4.8m E-W; max. H 0.58m) was 2m ENE of Mound B (dims 6.7m x 4.7m; max. H 0.12m). Mound C (dims 4.5m x 4.1m; max. H 0.2m) was 5.6m SE of A while D (dims 1.3m x 1.05m; H 0.15m) was just 2m N of A (Dempsey 2004, 12-13). The area was fully excavated (E003064) by M. Mossop (Mossop M. and Mossop E. 2009) as Clowanstown 1 (excavations.ie 2006:1533) between September and December 2006 when it proved to be a complex area with a Mesolithic post-row structure and stone platform that had four associated fish-traps, together with four Neolithic mounds and excavated features. After the abandonment of the platform, the areas between the sphagnum mounds began to fill in with peaty layers. Just SE of this mound, Mound A, and beneath Mound C a layer of crushed calcined bone produced a few flints and 146 sherds from at least six carinated bowls. Another layer (dims 16m x 8.7m; max. T 0.15m) with some fire-reddened concentrations of marl produced 47 sherds from at least 10 vessels, some with peaty accretions while others had signs of wear. The lithics included a chert Bann flake, some flint blades and a flint plano-convex knife. Seven large rectangular troughs or quarries (dims 3.8m x 2.1m; D 0.27m to dims 8.2m x 2.6m; max. D 0.7m) with rounded corners and flat bases were identified, and they appear to have been excavated successively away from Mound A. Some were cut through the stony layers with bone and pottery but they were largely cut through peat. The primary fill of each trough or quarry usually contains some burnt stone with wood and charcoal fragments but they were closed with peat. The principal wood was alder, and hazelnuts occurred frequently throughout the fills while animal bones were found occasionally. A sample of alder from the primary fill of the largest quarry produced a C14 date of 3960-3770 cal. BC (BETA 246996), and another quarry was filled entirely with peat and sealed by a stony deposit (T 0.2m). Four root boles and the root systems of at least two willows and an ash tree were supported on the covering peat. (Mossop and Mossop 2009, 12-21) Mound A (dims 10.3m N-S; 6.6m E-W; H 1.13m) was built over a natural hollow (dims 7m N-S; 3.2m E-W; D 0.45m) that had a basal layer of moss. The mound consisted of ten burnt layers of charcoal with small angular burnt sandstone and limestone fragments that produced a few sherds of carinated bowls, a bone pin and a fragment of a stone pendant. These layers were separated from each other by layers of redeposited marl and limestone, which sometimes yielded sherds of pottery. The lowest layer consisting of a yellow/brown silt with ash lenses produced 19 sherds from at least two vessels, and a sample of alder charcoal from it yielded a C14 date of 3940-3860 cal. BC (BETA 246993). Five staves from a cylindrical alder vessel (ext. diam. 0.65m; H 0.85m plus) with an external rebate that has two holes close to the rim perhaps for a handle had been placed upside down in a pit near the top of the mound in Phase 7. Inside, redeposited marl lay over three limestone slabs, which in turn covered a layer of marl over burnt stone and silt. A sample from one of the planks produced a C14 date of 3710-3630 cal. BC (BETA 237056). The mound was sealed by a burnt stone consolidation layer that was laid over all the mounds, and a sample of alder charcoal from this provided a radiocarbon date of 3630-3370 cal. BC (BETA 246988). Some pottery sherds could be matched across the identified phases of Mound A. (Mossop and Mossop 2009, 21-26) See the attached plans (_1) from Dempsey (2004, fig. 5) and from Mossop and Mossop (2009, figs 12, 13, 16, Pl. 2) _1 Plan of the visible mounds; _2 Plan of Mound A and the quarries; _3 Mounds A and C; _4 Consolidation layers; _5 Mound under excavation A from W; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload; 19 April 2022