Craig Hill (Antrim)
Craig Hill, in County Antrim , Northern Ireland, is a basement connected to the remains of an above-ground building structure that was discovered in 1954 during the excavation of topsoil at the Craig Hill Quarry near Bushmills . Craig Hill rises about 3.3 km southeast of Bushmills to a height of about 106.5 m. The basement is on the northern slope of the hill, a few meters south of the road that runs from Bushmills-Billy Road towards Drumyaran Bridge, opposite a side road that leads to the Turfahun group of buildings. It seems that the basement and the building were not provided with an enclosure ( Dun or Rath ), with which basements are often associated. In the case of basements, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements.
Another rectangular stone house connected to a basement was excavated near Antiville in County Antrim (Waterman 1971, 65). The site was surrounded by an unusually shallow (0.45 m) but 4.5 m wide trench. The shape of the house and the presence of the basement belong to facilities from the last centuries of the 1st millennium.
excavation
The building
The surface structure connected to the basement was a trapezoidal wooden structure with a central hearth. The building is about 3.6 m long, 5.5 m in the north and 4.2 m in the south. It was entered through a paved area to the east. Before the construction of the facility, the slope side of the hill was excavated and leveled. The flat surface formed the terrace on which the building lay. In front of the southern wall of the structure, a paved 30 to 45 cm wide drainage was created on the slope side to catch surface water that would otherwise have been drawn into the building. The floor of the building consisted of crumbling, decomposed rock in the east and marl boulder in the west. The angles of the structure were indicated by post pits 6 to 12 inches either cut in the rock or dug in the clay . A pair of posts occupied the southwest corner; Another post hole, which was presumably connected to the access to the basement, was in the center of the west side. At a distance of about 2.1 m east of the building structure, another pair of posts stood at the beginning of the paving of the vestibule, 0.9 m separated from each other. It may have supported the roof of the vestibule that protected the access in the center of the east wall of the building. The floor of the vestibule was paved with large floor tiles and smaller stones that filled the spaces between the larger slabs. Approximately in the center of the building there was a roughly 23 cm deep, rectangular, corner-rounded pit that still contained a small amount of dark, sooty earth and was probably used as a hearth. About 75 cm south of the stove was a 15 cm deep post hole around which several small packing stones lay. The meaning of this post hole is unclear. All traces of the building's use had been removed before the excavation, except for the fillings of dark floor and charcoal inside the post holes. The nature of the building walls is unclear, but some slight construction seems advisable and it is possible that the clay found in the burned rubble was plastering.
The trapezoidal floor plan of the building is strange, but the careful search for the north wall failed due to the extensive destruction. Only a post hole in the appropriate position in the south-west corner indicates the presumable ground plan of the structure in the case of a straight connection. Further post holes outside the west side of the building indicate a covered walkway between the building and the basement.
The basement
The basement was undoubtedly created at the same time as the building to which it precisely adjoins. An approximately quarter-circle-shaped, approximately 12 m long trench was dug in which the structure was erected that was last covered with the excavation, which was then approximately 40 cm above the previous level. Approximately in the middle of the building was a 15 cm deep step that marks the short, angled, dry masonry access to the basement. The floor of this access, which is cut into the till, descends steeply to the ground level of the basement, which is 1.2 m below the old surface. At the end of the angled corridor was the lintel , only 45 cm wide and about 68 cm high opening to the basement, which forms an approximately 12 m long quarter circle. It was formed from dry masonry, which is slightly inclined inwards, and cap stones lying horizontally. It is between 0.6 and 1.05 m wide and 0.9 to 1.5 m high. After about a third of its length, from the entrance, the floor of the basement drops suddenly, by means of a slip cut into the rock. This descent is accompanied by a lowering of the ceiling by 0.6 m. Once hatched, the floor sloped slightly to the wide and high end of the structure. After hatching, the ceiling continues to run at an unchangeable level and thus ensures the permanent increase in the height of the rear part of the basement. The only structural interruption in the wall of the basement consists of an approximately 55 cm high, not very deep niche at a distance of 1.5 m from the end of the basement.
The finds
Ceramics
The basement pottery is handmade and is reddish yellow-brown in color, usually with a gray core and sometimes similarly gray on the inside. Numerous mica slate particles in the clay belong to the emaciation. The outside, rarely the inside, shows impressions that are likely from straw or grass and are often on the underside. The smoothing of the fingers on the surface is partly obvious; Fingerprints often mark the connection point between the wall and the base.
bronze
Apart from the pottery, a ring-headed bronze needle from the cover of the basement was the only find. The needle has a round cross-section, but is smoothed at the tip and at the end. The end is simply turned over and ornamented with several parallel notches to match the simple ring head.
Time position
The ring-headed needle belongs to a group that can be dated to the last four centuries of the 1st millennium AD. Needles of this type are found in Crannóg No. 1 (10th century) and Crannóg No. 2 of Ballinderry (8th century) in County Westmeath and in Crannóg of Lagore (7th to 10th centuries) in County Meath . The greater occurrence of these needles at the transition from the 9th to the 10th century is emphasized by their frequent appearance in graves of the Viking Age . This period can probably be attributed to Craig Hill.
See also
literature
- Seán P. Ó. Ríordáin: Antiquities of the Irish Countryside. 5th edition. Methuen, London 1987, ISBN 0-416-85630-6 , p. 90 ff.
- Mark Clinton: The Souterrains of Ireland. Wordwell, Bray Co. Wicklow 2001, ISBN 1-869857-49-6 .
- DM Waterman: An excavation of a house and souterrain at Craig Hill Co. Antrim Ulster Journal of Archeology 19 1956 D. 87-91
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 11 ′ 20.2 " N , 6 ° 29 ′ 13.6" W.