Ring-ditch in Killegland

Located towards the top a gentle NW-facing slope c. 125m W of Killegland church (ME045-004----). Archaeological testing (05E1321) by S. Halliday (2007) in advance of a housing development identified numerous archaeological features (excavations.ie 2006:1496) some of which were investigated under the original licence (excavations.ie 2006:1496), but others, numbered Sites I and III, were resolved (excavations.ie 2006:1499) later by J. Kavanagh (2007) under a different licence (06E0871). Site III consists of a large bivallate ring-ditch (C), with a line of ring-ditches touching edge to edge and extending S from this large feature. This is a circular area (int. diam. 31m E-W; 29.5m N-S) defined by a V-shaped ditch or fosse (Wth 1.7-1.8m; D 0.5-0.8m) that was re-cut at E to correct its alignment here and improve the symmetry of the enclosure. An uncut causeway (Wth 1.1m) at SSW is slightly truncated by a later ditch and was originally wider. The fosse is filled with sandy silts and clays, some of which have flecks of charcoal. A linear deposit (L 2.6m; Wth 0.36m) at the base of the ditch on the N side with charcoal, ash and traces of oxidized clay could contain cremated bone. An inner enclosure (int. diam. 17m N-S; 16.5m E-W) is defined by a smaller ditch or fosse (Wth 1.2m; D 0.4-0.6m) with a primary fill of mid-brown silty clay. Two shallow deposits of charcoal-rich sandy silts overlay this and there was a deposit with oxidized clay but no bone. A thumbnail scraper and two flint cores were recovered from the inner ditch. There is an entrance gap in the inner ditch at NNE that has two small pits (diam. 0.7m: D 0.05m; dims 0.7m x 0.35m; D 0.15m) filled with yellow-brown charcoal-flecked sandy clay just outside it. There was an urn burial between the ditches at SW. It was represented by a mass of burnt bone (diam. 0.45m) surrounded by fragments of coarse pottery in a pit (dims 1.2m x 1m; D 0.55m) that was closed with mottled yellow clay. Another urn burial was at the centre of the enclosures in a pit (dims 1.26m x 1.1m; D 0.62m) and consists of a charcoal-flecked sandy clay (diam. 0.43m) surrounded by the remains of the urn beneath a mottled orange-yellow clay. A third Urn burial was 1.3m to the NNW of this in an elongated pit (dims 1.9m N-S; 0.5m E-W; max. D 0.45m) with a central fill of charcoal-flecked sandy clay and pottery sherds throughout the deposit. A pit (diam. 0.85m; D 0.17m) just to the NW had evidence of in situ burning and some burnt bone but no ceramics. All the pottery appears to be in the collared urn tradition. There were some later pits in the vicinity. A circular pit (diam. 0.82m; D 0.62m) cut the outer fosse at SE. It was filled with brown charcoal-flecked silty clay that contained some burnt bone and the tip of a flint arrowhead. A metaled surface (dims 17m NW-SE; 15m NE-SW) with a thumbnail scraper and a flint core are associated with it was partially over the outer fosse at W. Extending S from this large ring-ditch are five structures that might be hut-sites or ring-ditches, all of which are truncated slightly on the W side by a later N-S ditch that turns W at its N end as it encounters the outer ditch of the large ring-ditch. The E edges of the structures also tend to disappear through plough action. Although no burials are associated directly with these features neither are there any hearths or post-holes, which suggests that all of them might be barrows. The most northerly of these features is a slight, curving trench (L 3.5m; Wth 0.32m; D 0.12m) filled with a charcoal-flecked sandy silt that cuts the fill of the outer ditch of the large ring-ditch. Just S of this is a circular feature (int. diam. 4.2-4.4m) defined by a slight ditch (Wth 0.37m; D 0.17m) which is exhausted at SE but cuts the ditch of the structure just to its S. This is a smaller feature (int. diam. c. 2-3m), open at the E and cut by the ditches of the features to the N and S. The fourth feature (int. dims 5.1m N-S; c. 3.5m E-W) has a U-shaped ditch (Wth 0.56m; D 0.16m) and an entrance may have been at the SE, although the ditch peters out on the E side. There were three shallow pits filled with silty clay in the interior but no artefacts were recovered. The most southerly structure (int. diam. c. 9m) is defined by a rounded ditch (Wth 0.64m; D 0.55m) which cuts the ditch of the structure to the N and has an uncut entrance causeway (Wth 1.2m) at E. The ditch has a primary fill of clay/silt with some charcoal flecking, and an upper fill with large quantities of charcoal on the N side. Two pits, one (dims 1.8m x 1.3m; D 0.14m) with in situ burning and a charcoal-flecked sandy silt fill with a small amount of burnt bone, are within the enclosure. The other (dims 2m x 0.63m; D 0.35m) was filled with a grey, charcoal-flecked sandy clay and was partially truncated by the enclosing ditch. An isolated pit (dims 0.84m x 0.74m; D 0.16m) with a charcoal-flecked silty clay fill and burnt bone was 6.5m NW of the most southerly structure. (Kavanagh 2007) See the attached plan from Kavanagh (2007, fig. 5) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 22 December 2021