EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Tyrone
Killyliss, Co. Tyrone
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure.
Grid Ref: H41816101 (24181/36101)
SMR No: TYR 050:007
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: August – September 1982.
Site Directors: R.J. Ivens (Queen’s University, Belfast).
The site consisted of a sub-rectangular enclosure (approximately 42m in diameter) with an
external counterscarp bank, set on top of a small drumlin. Excavation was required as the site
was threatened by a farm improvement scheme.
The interior of the site had been damaged by subsequent agricultural activity, resulting in
many truncated or substantially destroyed features (Fig. 276). Several small gullies, sealed by
the inner enclosure bank, indicated that the site may have been occupied prior to the
construction of the enclosure. A substantial trench (0.9m deep) encircled most of the interior.
This feature was sealed by early medieval occupation layers, and has been interpreted as a
possible palisade trench associated with the earlier occupation, or an early drain. An area of
cobbling and a single stakehole were found in the interior of the enclosure; and a stonepacked
gully and associated postholes were interpreted as the remains of a small roundhouse
or hut (Fig. 277). Examination of the remains from a large pit just to the south of this house
indicated the presence of human whipworm eggs, suggesting that this feature may have
acted as a latrine pit. A shallow gully surrounding this pit may indicate that the latrine was
contained within a structure of some sort.
One of the most enigmatic features on site was a small clay platform, which dated
stratigraphically to the early medieval period. This platform appears to have been constructed
to house a clay-lined trench (1.85m wide and 0.45m deep) which has evidence for structural
timbers and postholes. This feature has been interpreted as an ‘above-ground souterrain’, or
at least an earth-covered feature which served a similar purpose.
Excavations on the ditch and banks revealed methods of construction – the inner bank
appears to have been built by a series of work-gangs; and the ditch appears originally to
have been fitted with a wattle lining. The waterlogged conditions of the ditch meant that
various organic materials survived from the early medieval occupation phase. These included
artefacts (44 fragments of leather which seemed to mainly come from several shoes) as well
as the remnants of a split-rail and wattle fence (which was assumed to have originally
surmounted the inner bank before collapsing into the ditch) (Fig. 278).
About 30 sherds of souterrain ware were found on site, the majority of which (28) were from
a single vessel. These were discovered in a context which pre-dated the construction of the
banks and ditches, suggesting that the earlier occupation of the site also took place during
the early medieval period. Two iron knives were found in the early medieval contexts, and a
short iron sword was recovered from the latrine pit.
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