EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Down
Drumadonnell, Co. Down
Early Medieval Unenclosed House.
Grid Ref: J24393915 (32439/33915)
SMR No: DOW 035:053
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: January – February 1999.
Site Director: J.C. McSparron (Northern Archaeological Consultancy).
Monitored top-soil stripping was undertaken prior to the construction of a new primary school
because of the possibility that a lost early medieval ecclesiastical site may have existed in the vicinity.
This claim was largely based on the survival of a high cross, which had subsequently been removed
from the area.
Excavation revealed the presence of a hearth and associated posthole settings, as well as a second
hearth which did not appear to have been associated with the layout of postholes (Fig. 93). Dating of
charcoal from both of the hearths, however, gave an early medieval date (see below). It is suggested
that the postholes may have represented a roundhouse-type structure.
A number of sherds of souterrain ware pottery were found on site, and although the site appears to
be early medieval in date, there is also some evidence for earlier occupation. Two non-souterrain
ware pottery sherds, and the make-up of the seed assemblage in the bottom of a cereal-drying kiln
(based upon the lack of oats) suggest that the site was also occupied in the Bronze Age.
Fig. 93: Unenclosed house at Drumadonnell, Co. Down (after McSparron 2001, 49).
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