Pit

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a natural elevation at the NE end of Lough Mourne, immediately SE of a Neolithic cairn (DG086-002001-). Discovered and fully excavated in 2011 during an archaeological excavation at the cairn carried out in advance of the proposed development of a dam at Lough Mourne (Delaney 2013).
This consisted of a subcircular pit (1.3m by 1.2m; D 0.43m) with a rounded base. There was evidence that the pit may have had a clay lining. A spread (7.8m by 6.4m; D 0.1m) of burnt material, interpreted as the remains of a bonfire, overlay and was centred on the pit, and a smaller burnt deposit lay immediately to NE.
Charcoal fragments were identified as belonging to three species, oak, hazel and a species of the hawthorn/mountain ash family. A sample of alder charcoal sent for radiocarbon analysis retuned a middle Bronze Age date, 1436-1309 BC (UBA 19991) (calibrated to 2 sigma). An assemblage of flint quartz artefacts recovered from the pit and the burnt layer also dated to the Bronze age (Delaney 2013, 18-19).
The pit is one of several Bronze Age monuments found in close proximity to the Neolithic cairn (DG086-002001-): An Early Bronze Age wedge tomb (DG086-002004-) was found 30m to W of the pit, a burnt spread (DG 086-002005-), located c. 25m to SE, was also dated to the middle Bronze Age, and a Late Bronze Age fulacht fia (DG086-002007-) was found c. 30m to NW. (Delaney 2013).

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 16 January 2018

References

Delaney, S. 2013 Final report of an archaeological excavation undertaken at Lough Mourne, Co. Donegal. For URS, on behalf of Donegal County Council. Licence no. 10E0309, 10R0103. April 2013. Unpublished report submitted to National Monuments Service.