Barrow — ring-barrow in Carroweighter

Located at the crest of the E-facing slope of a broad N-S ridge, with the round tower of Oran (RO034-080003-) c. 250m to the SSW. A geophysical survey (11R0074) of possible routes for a re-directed section of the N60 at Oran identified a number of possible enclosures defined by ditches (Gimson and Regan 2011). Archaeological testing (11E0247) disproved many of the anomalies, but a group of four features in Field 2 proved to be archaeological, and elements of the field system (RO034-081003-) may extend into this area (O’Hara 2011, 5-6, 24-5). Only the S half of this enclosure was excavated (E004887). It is a circular area (int. diam. c. 24.5m; ext. diam. c. 32m) defined by a continuous V-shaped ditch (max. Wth of top 5.25m; max. D 1.8m) that was never re-cut and had no obvious entrance feature, although a widening of the fosse at W suggests there may be one at NW. A small quantity of animal bones from the ditch, acquired during the testing, provide a C14 date of 170 cal. BC – 4 cal. AD. Although there was no evidence of an outer bank, it is postulated that one was present from the slip-lines in the ditch, and to occupy the space between it and the ring-ditch (RO034-112004-), 5m to the S. A pit burial (diam. 0.68m; D 0.24m) containing a fill of burnt clay and charcoal beneath a deposit of burnt bone was off-centre in the interior, with a smaller spread beside it. The pit was topped with a final layer of silty clay with charcoal and burnt bone. No artefacts were recovered from the pit-burial, but it returned a C14 date of 1191-924 cal. BC, proving it to be unrelated to the enclosing ditch. Eight pieces of chert, a polishing stone and an iron object were recovered from the base of the ditch. Three phases are recognised in the ditch fill with silt present at the base. Charcoal spreads were present at the bottom as well as the articulated remains of a person with outstretched arms and the severed left foot placed between the legs. A second fill is a brown silty clay probably derived from an outer bank. A third phase was represented by a brown silty clay with charcoal concentrations which was sealed by a thin brown soil thought to be a humus. A charcoal spread E of the enclosure, and a curving slot-trench (Wth 0.5m; D 0.38m; L 5.8m plus) just to the NW cannot be stratigraphically linked with what is probably a barrow but all are probably contemporary. All the features were truncated by post-medieval furrows and a field ditch ran N-S just E of the barrow’s fosse. (McIlreavy 2018) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 3 December, 2014 Amended: 24 November 2020