A Road to the Past: Excavations Along the A1 at Loughbrickland

Description

Principal Editor: Kev Beachus. Editors: Stephen Gilmore and Lianne Heaney. Illustrators: Steve Cannon and Stephanie Godden. This book describes the results of one years monitored topsoil stripping and excavation in advance of a 10-kilometer development of the A1 from Loughbrickland to Beech Hill. A number of areas of archaeological remains were identified, two particularly comple and large sites, the first of which comprised three Neolithic rectangular houses and a Bronze Age cemetery in the townland of Ballintaggart. The cemetery contained nine cremation burials, eight marked by ring ditches and two four-post burials. This site also included an Early Bronze Age occupation area. The second site in the townland of Derrycraw comprised a destroyed cairn, five ring ditches (three of which contained burials), a cremation in a woven structure, several other token burials and a single post-marked burial, which was associated with a Bronze Age funerary vessel containing a cremation. A number of smaller unassociated excavations were completed, including an iron Age cremation in Maddydrumbrist townland and several burnt mounds. 1. Setting the Scene 1 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 The Neolithic (6000 BP to 4000 BP) 5 1.3 The Bronze Age (400 BP to 2500 BP) 7 2. Ballintaggart in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age 11 2.1 Overview of the site at Ballintaggart 2 12 2.2 Early Neolithic Ballintaggart (6000 BP to 5500 BP) 15 2.3 Conclusions about Early Neolithic Ballintaggart 28 2.4 Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Activity at Ballintaggart 29 3. Bronze Age Barrow Cemeteries 35 3.1 Ballintaggart Barrow Cemetery 36 3.2 Derrycraw Barrow Cemetery 49 3.3 Conclusions about the Barrow Cemeteries 61 4. The Four Small Sites 65 4.1 Ballintaggart 1 66 4.2 Ballintaggart 4 67 4.3 Maddydrumbrist 7 68 4.4 Aughintober 8 69 5. Conclusions 71 Bibliography 74 Where to go for more information 75