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Co Down dig reveals a prehistoric mystery
Thursday, 25 June 2009
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Prehistoric mysteries uncovered in an archaeological dig at a Co Down road scheme were revealed to the public this morning.
The team behind the dig at the A1 Loughbrickland road scheme has uncovered not just a Bronze Age burial ground but also a Neolithic settlement dating back some 6,500 years.
The settlements, which contained a number of intriguing artefacts, lay on a finger of land which is believed to have been almost surrounded by water in prehistoric times. Three books on the finds have been published, including ‘Digging Down’, a children’s book, and a number of information boards at Loughbrickland lakeside were unveiled by Education Minister Caitriona Ruane this morning.
Kev Beachus, of Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd who headed the dig team, said that one-hectare site had contained a Bronze Age crematorium and round barrows containing the buried remains of eight or nine people.
“They had been ploughed into the field for years and years. On the top you didn’t know they were there, but when you dug deeper there they were,” he said.
“There were also three neolithic houses — the first to be excavated in Co Down. The three houses all dated to about 4,500BC.
“The barrows seem to have been in use for about 100-200 years and between the first use and end use is about 1,000 years. That means in 1,000 years we have had eight people buried. Where are the rest of them? That is the big question.”
Three of the houses burned down and radio carbon dating suggests that they were all burned at the same time, Kev said.
“They were living on land between the lake and the bog and it looks like they exploited these for food and security,” he added.
“We have evidence that they were making their own pottery and there is evidence that clay for the pottery came from the lake.”
However, not all the artefacts were made locally. The team has discovered flints from Co Antrim, stones from Mt Gabriel in the Republic and bizarrely a jet bead which would have come from Whitby in Lancashire. This ‘spacer bead’ is oblong with four drilled holes and was used to separate necklace strands.
Kev said: “The question is, are there trade links all the way across the country, with one person selling to another and that person selling to another or did one person go all the way to Whitby?
It just doesn’t seem likely — he’d have been gone for weeks.”
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane: There was also a cut and polished slate disc 2cm in diameter which archaeologists are theorising may have been a ‘pass token’, presented on arrival at a village to show that the holder was of good character. Another ‘mini cup’, a cup 4cm in diameter and 2 cm deep, contains the fingernail impressions of its maker.
“The discovery on the A1 Loughbrickland to Beech Hill scheme of a Bronze Age burial ground and a Neolithic settlement site dating back 6,500 years is significant, and it has increased knowledge and understanding of pre-history in this area of Co Down.”
“The display of these information boards marks the completion of the archaeological works associated with the A1 Loughbrickland to Beech Hill dual carriageway scheme. Such works are an important aspect of the environmental work which Roads Service undertakes as part of its programme of road improvements.
“My Department is committed to fully record and research the archaeological sites that turn up from time to time in our road construction sites. The archaeological find near Loughbrickland has been acknowledged as rare and extremely significant, and it is good that the people of this area can access the information now displayed here and learn more about the history of the area.”
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Comments
29 Comments
There is also a Whitby in Cheshire as well as that in Yorkshire. There is definitely no Whitby in Lancashire.
SHR
Posted by SHRowland | 11.07.09, 04:23 GMT
Would all the scientific experts who posted their expert comments here please reveal which of the guesswork dating methods were used to determine that this site is 6500 years old?
My guess is that it was the archaeological textbook method which is to say that it was dated conjecturally.
Posted by jock | 04.07.09, 02:23 GMT
It takes Light 100,000 years to cover the length of the Milky Way Galaxy. Anyone who thinks the Earth is young is scientifically devoid of the necessary brain matter required for cognitive reasoning.
The light distance to the nearest star besides our own Sun is Alpha Centauri, roughly 4.37 light years away. It takes 8.3 minutes for the first emission of solar radiation to reach our Earth.
People who can't grasp the Earth being billions of years old can't grasp F=ma in 1 dimension, let alone 3.
Posted by Marc | 27.06.09, 22:44 GMT
Whitby is in Yorkshire on the North sea coast not in Lancashire as your artaicle says.
Posted by frank oreilly | 27.06.09, 09:14 GMT
Was the donkey called Mr. Ed?
Posted by Ulysses31 | 26.06.09, 14:29 GMT
lol conor, theistic evolution is still creationism...
Posted by McD | 26.06.09, 13:57 GMT
Also Donny, what about Balaam and his talking donkey in Numbers 22:28-30. Balaam's donkey philosophises with him about his abuse and explains the nature of their relationship and how his feelings have been hurt. I wonder does Mr. Poots believe in talking donkeys? I'd really like to ask him.
Posted by In The Name Of The Fada | 26.06.09, 13:05 GMT
Boring comment, Conor.
Posted by Ulysses31 | 26.06.09, 13:04 GMT
Try theistic evolution you ignorant lot
Posted by conor | 26.06.09, 12:32 GMT
Still interesting enough for you to comment though, eh Conor?
Posted by McD | 26.06.09, 11:59 GMT
I'm curious to know if Mr. Poots believes the earth is fixed in space and the sun revolves around it. After all, this is what the Bible says, though it is verifiably, empirically wrong. If one part of biblical cosmology (the relative motions of the sun and earth) is wrong, then what about other parts, such as the age of the earth?
Posted by Donny Nixon | 26.06.09, 09:19 GMT
I don't know who this Edwin Poots is, but a) his name is hilarious, and b) it's nice to know, as an American, that we don't have the market cornered in wilfully naive, creationist wack-jobs. [30 seconds later] Just looked Poots up. He's a politician too. That's wonderful.
Posted by Craig Johnson | 25.06.09, 23:07 GMT
Hope they can do a DNA on some of the bodies.
Posted by Alice Hornbeck | 25.06.09, 22:54 GMT
"A flute has been discovered which is dated to 35000 years ago which proves god created an 'old' pipe band no sash has turned up though"
Now that's what I call a "traditional route!" Did God make the flute or did the person that made the flute make God?
Stephen
Posted by Stephen | 25.06.09, 22:00 GMT
Very interesting and informative until you tell me that Whitby (probable source of the jet) is in Lancashire. It's in YORKSHIRE!
Posted by Dr Simon Woodward | 25.06.09, 19:48 GMT
boring article, boring comments and Im not a creationist
do some work people
Posted by conor | 25.06.09, 19:24 GMT
Perhaps when you folks have stopped comforting yourselves in your own pathetic ridicule you would stop and look at the scientific evidence for a young earth.
It quite sad that uneducated people, scientifically speaking, believe the first information fed to them and without rigorous assement of examination of the scientific data presume to look down on those who go back to the scientific method, and first principles to establish facts themselves. Independant thought...dead and buried.
Posted by david | 25.06.09, 18:45 GMT
It was a price job. No electricians or plumbers because those as well as lawyers were created later by the devil
Posted by ron54 | 25.06.09, 18:20 GMT
This is a fiendish Sinn Féin plot to discredit the fundamentalist Christian beliefs of Mr Poots....Ms Ruane, you should be ashamed of yourself for this nasty PR stunt!
Posted by Fiontán | 25.06.09, 16:09 GMT
Oh no! What a travisty! What will Edwin think now! This throws a pipe in the works for him
Posted by Stephen | 25.06.09, 15:29 GMT
29 Comments