2014: Domestic and ritual flint assemblages from an Early/Later Neolithic site at Ballymoney, Co....

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Domestic and ritual flint assemblages from an Early/Later Neo-

lithic site at Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Torben Bjarke Ballin

LITHIC RESEARCH, Stirlingshire

Honorary Research Fellow, University of Bradford

The present report was commissioned by Archaeological Development Services Ltd. (ADS), a commercial archaeological

unit working out of Dublin, Kells and Belfast. Over a period of three years (2005-07) I produced a number of lithics re-

ports for ADS, including the present report on the lithic finds from Ballymoney In the wake of the ‘credit crunch’, ADS

was closed, and over the last few years I have attempted to ‘track down’ people from ADS, hoping to come to an agreement

regarding publication of these reports, or – if publication had been abandoned – upload to Academia of the original reports,

to avoid information getting lost. I have not been able to get in touch with any former ADS staff, with emails usually

‘bouncing’, and in several cases I found out that people I had worked with/who had excavated the sites had moved on and

left the archaeological profession. I therefore contacted a number of people within Irish archaeology, and it was suggested to

me that after five years – if no attempt had been made to begin moving a project towards publication – I could freely do

what I wanted to with the report. In the present case, 8 years have passed since the production of the report, and I subse-

quently decided to upload it, in the hope that my Irish colleagues may find it interesting/useful.

INTRODUCTION

In connection with a proposed new retail development in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, Archaeologi-

cal Development Services Ltd. were commissioned by Tescos Ltd. to carry out archaeological

investigations. This work included limited trial trenching of the site, followed by archaeological

monitoring of topsoil removal, and the manual excavation of selected areas of archaeological de-

posits (Bowen 2007).

The removal of topsoil revealed a large number of surviving archaeological features and

contexts. A total of nine areas required archaeological excavation, all of which were located

where the new store was to be built in the northern half of the development. In most of these

areas (Areas 1-5, 7), the archaeological deposits included scatters of pits, post- and stakeholes,

whereas in Area 6 a large post medieval field boundary, running north-south, was excavated in

the north-eastern corner of the development. In Area 8, a partially surviving circular/rectangular

structure was fully excavated, along with a series of large pits. In Area 9 several scattered

postholes and pits were identified. Areas 10-11 were recorded and preserved.

In addition to the above features, an assemblage of 413 lithic artefacts was recovered. Most

of these were found in Areas 1 (188 pieces), 3 (45 pieces) and 8 (135 pieces), with the remaining

sub-assemblages including from one to 14 pieces of worked flint. The purpose of the present

report is to characterize the lithic assemblage, with special reference to raw-material, typological

composition and technology. From this characterization, an attempt is made to date the flint as-

semblage and discuss its affinities, as well as the character of the site. As initial cursory examina-

tion suggested that it would not be possible to safely subdivide the assemblage into its expected

Early and Late Neolithic components, it was decided to analyse the Ballymoney collection as a

single undivided assemblage.

The evaluation of the lithic assemblage is based upon a detailed catalogue of all the lithic

finds from Whitepark Road (an Access database), and the artefacts in this report are referred to

by their number (CAT no.) in the catalogue.

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THE ASSEMBLAGE

From the Ballymoney excavations, 413 lithic artefacts were recovered1. They are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. General artefact list.

Area

1 Area

2 Area

3 Area

4 Area

7 Area

8 Area

9 Area

10/11 Un-strat.

Total

Debitage

Chips 4 27 1 74 2 108

Flakes 99 5 9 4 1 24 2 3 4 151

Blades 13 2 2 1 1 19

Microblades 1 1

Indeterminate pieces 21 5 3 6 24 59

Crested pieces 3 1 4

Platform rejuvenation flakes 1 1

Total debitage 142 10 41 11 1 125 4 4 5 343

Cores

Single-platform cores 1 1

Opposed-platform cores 1 1

Irregular cores 1 1

Bipolar cores 4 1 1 6

Core fragments 1 1 1 3

Total cores 7 2 2 1 12

Tools

Polished stone axeheads 1 1 2

Leaf-shaped arrowheads 1 1

Leaf-shaped arrowheads, rough-outs 1 1

Chisel-shaped arrowheads 1 1

Atypical arrowheads 1 1

Backed blades/bladelets 1 1

Short end-scrapers 17 2 4 23

Double-scrapers 1 1

Blade-scrapers 2 2

Scraper-edge fragments 3 3

Pieces with polished edges 1 1

Pieces with edge-retouch 14 2 1 1 2 1 21

Total tools 39 2 4 1 8 1 2 1 58

TOTAL 188 12 45 14 1 135 5 6 7 413

Definition of main artefact categories

The definitions of the main lithic categories are as follows:

Chips: All flakes and indeterminate pieces the greatest dimension (GD) of which is 10mm.

Flakes: All lithic artefacts with one identifiable ventral (positive or convex) surface, GD > 10mm and L <

2W (L = length; W = width).

Indeterminate pieces: Lithic artefacts which cannot be unequivocally identified as either flakes or cores. Gen-

erally the problem of identification is due to irregular breaks, frost-shattering or fire-crazing. Chunks

1 A large number of unworked pebbles/granules and frost-shattered pebble fragments were examined and subse-

quently excluded from the analysis.

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are larger indeterminate pieces, and in, for example, the case of quartz, the problem of identification

usually originates from a piece flaking along natural planes of weakness rather than flaking in the usu-

al conchoidal way.

Blades and microblades: Flakes where L 2W. In the case of blades W > 8mm, in the case of microblades W

8mm.

Cores: Artefacts with only dorsal (negative or concave) surfaces – if three or more flakes have been de-

tached, the piece is a core, if fewer than three flakes have been detached, the piece is a split or flaked

pebble.

Tools: Artefacts with secondary retouch (modification).

Raw material – types, condition and sources

Apart from two porcellanite axeheads (CAT 412, 413), all lithic artefacts are in flint, with the

vast majority (subjectively estimated at 95%+) being of the fine-grained light-yellow to light-

brown variety usually associated with Northern Irish coastal chalk-flint resources, whereas a

small number of pieces are of the slightly coarser orange-brown variety usually associated with

Northern Irish inland sites, for example from the till west of Lough Neagh (cf. Ballin 2003a;

2005c). The two varieties differ in other respects than colour and grain-size, such as lustre, cor-

tex and nodule size. Where the lustre of the former varies between vitreous and dull, that of

the latter may occasionally be slightly waxy, that is, more chalcedonic; chalk-flint frequently has

a soft, powdery cortex, whereas the cortex of the orange-brown variety is generally abraded

and smooth; and chalk-flint may occur as relatively large nodules or ‘plates’, with the orange-

brown variety usually being in the form of relatively small rounded pebbles.

Table 2. Reduction sequence (debitage, less chips).

Number Per cent

Primary pieces 4 2

Secondary pieces 136 59

Tertiary pieces 91 39

TOTAL 231 100

The degree of cortex-cover (‘reduction sequence’) is of great value to the identification of the

main raw material resource exploited at Ballymoney. The reduction sequence is summarised in

Table 2. In total, 39% of all flint artefacts from Ballymoney have no cortex and 61% are corti-

cal (primary and secondary pieces). In comparison, approximately 90% of the lithic finds from

the Rathdown site in Co. Wicklow are cortical (Ballin 2005a). It is thought that this difference

mainly reflects a difference in raw material availability, with practically all artefacts from

Rathdown being based on small flint pebbles, whereas most of the lithics from the present

project are based on relatively large nodules of chalk flint (the effect of nodule size on a site’s

cortex ratio is considered in Ballin 2000).

The effect of raw material availability on general artefact size is also expressed in Table 3.

The assemblage from Ballymoney includes the largest blanks, whereas the flakes and blades

from two other Northern Irish sites, Cashlandoo (Ballin 2007) and Site 54F07 (North-West

Pipeline Project; Ballin 2005d), are slightly smaller. The blanks from assemblages outwith the

chalk flint area are generally from one-third to one-half smaller than blanks from the chalk flint

region.

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Table 3. Blank dimensions – comparison of blanks from Ballymoney with blanks from a number of sites within and out-

with the chalk flint area (Ballin 2003b-e; 2005a; d; 2007).

Flake dimen-

sions, mm

Blade dimen-

sions, mm Estimated date

Ballymoney, Co. Antrim 29 x 25 x 8 35 x 15 x 9 Later EN/earlier LN

Cashlandoo, Co. Derry 29 x 26 x 9 40 x 18 x 8 LN, w. LM component

Site 54F07 (NWP), Co. Derry 27 x 24 x 7 38 x 17 x 6 EN - LN

Rathdown, Co. Wicklow 25 x 20 x 7 32 x 12 x 7 Beaker, w. EN component

Coldwinters, Co. Dublin 23 x 17 x 6 25 x 9 x 5 LN - EBA

Laughanstown, Co. Dublin 22 x 17 x 5 31 x 11 x 5 BA, w. EN component

Carrickmines Great 63m, Co. Dublin 18 x 13 x 5 23 x 9 x 5 Mainly EBA

Carrickmines Great 59-62, Co. Dublin 18 x 15 x 5 21 x 7 x 4 EN - BA

The numerous indeterminate pieces (59 specimens, or c. 17% of all debitage) are probably mainly

the frost-shattered remains of larger artefacts, and several blanks, cores and tools are affected by

frost-shattering. Although the soft powdery cortex of most artefacts suggests procurement of

chalk flint from primary sources (Mitchell 2004, 151), the prolific frost-shattered pieces imply the

use of chalk flint from secondary sources, such as the local till.

A total of 102 pieces are burnt, or 25% of the entire assemblage. Most likely, these pieces

are blanks, cores and tools which accidentally fell into domestic hearths in connection with the

manufacture or use of these pieces, although a proportion may be from ritual or burial contexts

(see distribution section). A ratio of 25% is a fairly high figure, but the size of this ratio probably

mainly reflects the excavator’s recovery methods. Approximately half of the burnt pieces are ex-

ceedingly small chips, and without the sieving of selected contexts (that is, excluding burnt chips)

the burnt flint ratio of the Ballymoney assemblage would only have been c. 13%. A small propor-

tion of the flints from Ballymoney are ‘lightly rolled’, which means that they have had their edges

and ridges abraded by natural processes, thus acquiring a more rounded appearance. Most likely,

this abrasion is the effect of deposition in sandy soil (Keeley 1980; Donahue & Burroni 2004), in

the present case glacial sand (Bowen 2007).

The porcellanite used to manufacture the polished axeheads (CAT 412, 413) probably came

from outcrops at Tievebulliagh, Co. Antrim, or from sources on Rathlin Island (Jope 1952; Sher-

idan 1986; Meighan et al. 1993; Cooney & Mandal 1998), although it cannot be ruled out that it

may have been acquired from the less substantial outcrop at Portrush (Meighan et al. 1993).

Debitage

In total, 343 pieces of debitage were recovered from the location (Table 1): 108 chips, 151 flakes,

19 blades, one microblade, 59 indeterminate pieces, and five preparation flakes (crested pieces

and platform rejuvenation flakes). The chip ratio is as high (32%) as one would expect from a

consistently wet-sieved prehistoric site (consistently wet-sieved locations usually have ratios be-

tween c. 30% and 55%; Ballin 1999), but the Ballymoney settlement was not consistently sieved

(Bowen 2007). This suggests that one or more of the contexts selected for sampling/sieving

must have been particularly rich in chips (see distribution section).

The debitage is dominated by flakes (151 pieces), but with 59 specimens indeterminate piec-

es are also fairly common. The numerous indeterminate pieces were touched upon in the re-

port’s raw material section, and it was suggested that they may be indicative of the use of frost-

affected flint from the local till. With 20 pieces (one of which is a rather simple microblade), the

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site’s blade ratio (or laminar index) is relatively low. The blade ratio can be calculated in two

ways, namely blades as a proportion of either the total assemblage or of the site’s debitage. The

present analyst finds it most logical to do the latter, which in the Ballymoney case results in a

blade ratio of only 6% (see technology section). The average dimensions of the intact flakes and

the blades are 29 x 25 x 8mm and 35 x 15 x 9mm, respectively, with average L:W ratios of 1:1.2

and 1:2.3, respectively.

Table 4. Applied percussion techniques: definable unmodified and modified flakes and blades.

Number Per cent

Soft percussion 0 0

Hard percussion 133 84

Indeterminate platform technique 1 1

Platform collapse 5 3

Bipolar technique 19 12

TOTAL 158 100

As shown in Table 4, most blanks (84%) were detached by the application of hard percussion,

with no soft-percussion blanks being present. A total of 12% of all flakes and blades were manu-

factured in bipolar technique. Five preparation flakes were retrieved from Ballymoney. Four of

those are crested pieces (CAT 80, 206-7, 341), whereas one is a platform rejuvenation flake (CAT

205). The crested pieces, as well as the solitary core tablet, are quite plain pieces, but their pres-

ence indicates that a well-structured operational schemas was being adhered to (see technology

section).

Cores

Only 12 cores were retrieved from Ballymoney. They include one single-platform core, one op-

posed-platform core, one irregular cores, six bipolar cores, and three core fragments (Table 1).

The percentage distribution of platform cores : bipolar cores is 50:50, which means that, at Bal-

lymoney, bipolar cores are much more common than one should expect from the site’s ratio of

platform flakes : bipolar flakes (88:12). This fact is probably partly the result of some cores hav-

ing been removed from the site, either by export or by ‘tossing’ (Binford’s preventive mainte-

nance; Binford 1983, 189), and some bipolar cores may represent the final exhaustion of aban-

doned platform cores (see technology section).

The dimensions (L x W x T) of cores are measured in the following ways: in the case of

platform cores, the length is measured from platform to apex, the width is measured perpendicu-

lar to the length with the flaking-front oriented towards the analyst, and the thickness is meas-

ured from flaking-front to the often unworked/cortex-covered ‘back-side’ of the core. In the

case of bipolar cores, the length is measured from terminal to terminal, the width is measured

perpendicular to the length with one of the two flaking-fronts oriented towards the analyst, and

the thickness is measured from flaking-front to flaking-front.

Only one single-platform core was found (CAT 199). It is a rather chunky piece (49 x 58 x

51mm), characterised by many thermal surfaces (ie, natural, probably frost-induced breakage fac-

ets). It was knapped along roughly one-half of the platform’s circumference, and the platform is

faceted and untrimmed. Although some small irregular blades may have been detached from this

parent piece, CAT 199 probably mainly produced flake blanks.

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The collection’s only opposed-platform core (CAT 201) is quite small (31 x 32 x 25mm). Its two

opposed platforms are plain and faceted, and it is thought that the faceted platform is actually an

old core-side (a flaking-front). This suggests that, where the norm is that single-platform cores

are transformed into dual-platform cores, which are then transformed into cores with three or

more platforms (irregular cores), the present sequence of events was probably single-platform

core irregular core opposed-platform core. The edges of both platform’s are well-defined

and trimming of the edges clearly took place. One irregular core (CAT 159) is also small (40 x 32 x

27mm), and it appears to have been based on a rather haphazard operational schema.

The site’s six bipolar cores hint at two different ways of employing the bipolar technique. In

one case (CAT 257; 56 x 52 x 31mm), a medium-sized nodule was reduced by bipolar technique

from the onset of production, whereas at least four of the five small bipolar cores (av. dim.: 27 x

21 x 9mm) appear to represent recycling: three bipolar cores (CAT 23, 202, 203) all have remains

of original platforms surviving at one of two terminals, suggesting the re-use of abandoned plat-

form cores, whereas one (CAT 234) is a small flake reduced further by bipolar technique. CAT

257 is a unifacial piece, with only one flaking front, whereas all the smaller specimens are bifacial

pieces with two opposed flaking fronts. None of the site’s bipolar cores have more than one set

of terminals, indicating that no attempts were made at reorientating the pieces. Three core frag-

ments (CAT 160, 200, 214) could not be defined more precisely.

Tools

During the archaeological investigation of the Ballymoney site, 58 tools were retrieved. With 29

pieces, scrapers dominate the assemblage (53%), although simple edge-retouched pieces are also

common (21 pieces or 38%). Other tool forms include two polished porcellanite axeheads, four

arrowheads, one backed blade, and one piece with polished edges.

Fig. 1. Tool ratios of a number of sieved and unsieved assemblages from Norwegian Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement

sites; Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, has been inserted for comparison.

The 58 tools correspond to a tool ratio of 13%, which is a relatively high figure. As illustrated in

Fig. 1 (based on information in Ballin 1999), the tool ratio of sieved assemblages rarely exceeds

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4%, unless the site is a specialized camp where little or no knapping took place. In many cases, a

high tool ratio would be explained by the lack of consistent sieving (the resulting lower number

of chips would automatically cause the tool ratio to rise), but in the present case the situation is

slightly more complex. The Ballymoney collection includes many chips, due to the careful sieving

of the fill from selected, chips-rich contexts, but these chips were formed by the burning and

complete disintegration of individual artefacts, and in the Ballymoney assemblage chips could,

therefore, be defined as over-represented. The low number of chips from actual primary produc-

tion, in conjunction with a very low number of cores, suggests that Ballymoney was probably a

site where tools were used and deposited, and only to a lesser degree produced (see distribution

section).

Polished axeheads: From the Ballymoney site, two polished porcellanite axeheads were re-

trieved (CAT 412, 413). They are both all-over polished (apart from the flat butts and various

damaged/reworked areas), and they were both found in pits: CAT 412 in Area 8 and CAT 413 in

Area 1. As the shape of a stone axeheads is defined by a large number of attributes, the pieces

were characterized according to the detailed guidelines put forward by Museum Inspector Poul

Otto Nielsen (the National Museum of Denmark) in his discussion of the Danish thick-butted

axeheads (Fig. 2) (Nielsen 1977, 10-11), as well as according to the guidelines suggested by the

Irish Stone Axe Project (Cooney & Mandal 1998).

Fig 2. The nine primary proportions of a Neolithic axehead (Nielsen 1977, 11).

Size-wise, CAT 413 belongs to Jope’s ‘normal’ porcellanite axeheads (80 < L < 200mm; Jope

1952, 41; Sheridan 1986, 23), and morphologically it corresponds most closely to his Fig. 6.46,

although the butt of CAT 413 is flat rather than pointed (Jope 1952, 44). The butt of CAT 412 is

also flat. CAT 412 has been reworked extensively, which has affected the length of the surviving

piece. However, there is little doubt that the original axehead belonged to Jope’s ‘normal’ catego-

ry (CAT 412 is 81.5mm long). Although the dimensions of the two axeheads cannot be com-

pared directly, it is clear that they differ considerably in terms of size, with CAT 412 having been

substantially larger than CAT 413. Other obvious differences are the facts that CAT 413 has lat-

eral facets, whereas CAT 412 has none, and CAT 412 has much more arched broadsides than

CAT 413.

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Table 5. The primary, secondary and tertiary proportions of CAT 412 (following Nielsen 1977).

Primary proportions

1 Length Reworked: 81.5mm

2 Width of butt (measured 2 cm from the end) 57.0mm

3 Thickness of butt (measured 2 cm from the end) 36.2mm

4 Greatest thickness c. 43.5mm

5 Distance from butt to greatest thickness NA: Incomplete

6 Width of lateral sides at the point of greatest thickness 0.0mm

7 Width of edge Reworked: 69.7mm

8 Curvature of the edge (radius of the circle defined by the curved edge) Reworked: 48.1mm

9 Angle of the lateral sides 25

Secondary proportions

10 Butt index (the thickness of the butt in percent of the width of the butt) 63.5%

11 Distance from butt to greatest thickness in percent of length NA: Incomplete

Tertiary proportions

12 The difference between greatest thickness and width of lateral sides in percent of greatest

thickness (this ratio describes how arched the broadsides are) 100.0%

Table 6. The primary, secondary and tertiary proportions of CAT 413 (following Nielsen 1977).

Primary proportions

1 Length 80.7mm

2 Width of butt (measured 2 cm from the end) 44.8mm

3 Thickness of butt (measured 2 cm from the end) 24.0mm

4 Greatest thickness 26.0mm

5 Distance from butt to greatest thickness 39.8mm

6 Width of lateral sides at the point of greatest thickness 16.2mm

7 Width of edge 50.5mm

8 Curvature of the edge (radius of the circle defined by the curved edge) 48.1mm

9 Angle of the lateral sides 15.1

Secondary proportions

10 Butt index (the thickness of the butt in percent of the width of the butt) 53.6%

11 Distance from butt to greatest thickness in percent of length 49.3%

Tertiary proportions

12 The difference between greatest thickness and width of lateral sides in percent of greatest

thickness (this ratio describes how arched the broadsides are) 37.7%

Both working-edges have been reworked: CAT 412 by flaking and CAT 413 by polishing. In the

case of CAT 413 the working-edge has been polished in a way that makes it completely flat and

blunt, rather than sharp. This action renders it totally useless, and it may have been carried out in

an attempt to ‘decommission’ the piece, for example in connection with the ritual deposition of

CAT 413 in a pit? Re-flaking of axehead working-edges is occasionally seen in connection with

attempts to expediently re-sharpen these implements, but in the case of CAT 412, the result was

to make the piece blunt rather than sharp, and it is possible that this may also represent an at-

tempt to ‘decommission’ a prestige item ritually (like CAT 413)? A large flake has been detached

from the working-edge of CAT 413, which may represent damage, or the flake may have been

detached in connection with the original shaping of the axehead.

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Table 7: Description of CAT 412 according to Cooney & Mandal (1998):

Face shape – Uncertain (reworked)

Cross-section category – CS05/09 (oval/narrow oval)

Edge shape – ES05 (curved; symmetrical [reworked; flaked])

Profile category – Uncertain (reworked)

Blade profile category – Uncertain (reworked)

Butt shape – BU04 (flat; flat)

The two faces or broadsides have no facets

Table 8: Description of CAT 413 according to Cooney & Mandal (1998):

Face shape – FS02 (asymmetrical)

Cross-section category – CS11 (narrow oval, flat sides [one side clearly faceted])

Edge shape – ES05 (curved; symmetrical [reworked; polished])

Profile category – P02 (symmetrical; medium)

Blade profile category – BP10 (Symmetrical; N-J)

Butt shape – BU04 (flat; flat)

The two faces or broadsides have no facets

Arrowheads: The assemblage includes a number of different flint arrowheads, amongst which are

one leaf-shaped point, one rough-out for a leaf-shaped point, one chisel-shaped arrowhead, and

one atypical arrowhead. The leaf-shaped point (CAT 242) is a very nice slender piece (57 x 16 x

5mm). It has a rounded base and a very acute tip, and in Green’s (1980) morphological system

this is an arrowhead of Type 3C/2C (similar slender pieces are known from the Keiller-Knowles

Collection; Woodman et al. 2006, Fig.4.16, nos 167, 235, 236, 565, 1648). It is based on a regular

flint blade, with its dorsal face completely covered by well-executed invasive retouch, whereas

the ventral face is only partially covered by invasive retouch (tip, base and edges). The arrowhead

is slightly asymmetrical, which may be an indication that CAT 242 was not completed.

The leaf-shaped arrowhead rough-out (CAT 140) is of medium-size (50 x 42 x 10mm), and

it has a squat tear-drop shaped outline. It was clearly based on a robust flake, and parts of the

original platform remnant still survives at the rounded base. Both faces are completely covered

by relatively crude invasive retouch. One of the arrowhead’s rounded flanks has steep retouch,

and it is possible that the attempt at producing an arrowhead was abandoned, and that the

rough-out was transformed into a side-scraper.

The solitary chisel-shaped arrowhead (CAT 228) is of traditional size (34 x 33 x 5mm), and

its leading edge is oblique. An Irish form was defined by Green (1980, 103; based on Clark 1934,

37). However, the Irish form fits Green’s system rather poorly. He perceives it as a variety of the

oblique arrowhead, but many Irish petit tranchet derivatives (PTDs) have no flat retouch of the ven-

tral face (such as CAT 228 from the present location), and many do not have a concave short

lateral retouch (like for example CAT 6 from Townparks, Antrim town; Ballin 2005c, 14).

Whether Irish PTDs with and without flat ventral retouch form a chronological sequence, as on

the British mainland, is presently uncertain and needs investigation. According to Flanagan’s

(1966) tripartite PTD typology (transverse, lopsided and elongated), the present piece belongs to

the lopsided category (also Woodman et al. 2006, 151).

CAT 228 is based on a regular flake with parallel lateral sides; its base is distal and the tip is

proximal. The dorsal face is partially cortex-covered. Both lateral sides have full ‘normal‘ retouch

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(ie, the removals were carried out from the ventral face), and the leading edge displays slight use-

wear. The piece has a demonstrable sheen which may either have been caused by deposition in a

sandy matrix (Keeley 1980; Donahue & Burroni 2004) or by heat-treatment (Price et al. 1982;

Eriksen 1999). The cortex appears slightly ‘roasted’, with dark spots, supporting the latter inter-

pretation.

CAT 263 has been classified as the fragment of an atypical arrowhead (26 x 25 x 6mm). It is

the proximal fragment of an arrowhead with semi-invasive retouch of the lateral sides of both

faces. As the intact end is blunt, rather than acute, this is probably a basal fragment. The two lat-

eral sides diverge, suggesting that the original piece may have been either an unusual tanged ar-

rowhead, possibly like Green’s Type Ballyclare Ab (Green 1980, 121), but it may also have been

a slender kite-shaped arrowhead (possibly like No. 37 in the Keiller-Knowles Collection; Wood-

man et al. 2006, Fig. 4.16).

Backed blades/bladelets: This category only includes one piece, namely CAT 70. This imple-

ment is a relatively small, regular hard-hammer blade (35 x 13 x 6mm), the right lateral side of

which is fully blunted. The retouch is slightly convex, and the opposed cutting-edge is straight to

slightly concave. This piece probably functioned as a knife.

Scrapers: The assemblage includes 29 scrapers, embracing 23 short end-scrapers, one double-

scraper, two blade-scrapers, and three scraper-edge fragments. Eighteen of the short end-

scrapers are regular, standardised end-scrapers with a convex, steep scraper-edge at the distal end

(av. dim.: 37 x 31 x 12mm); they are generally based on approximately oval hard-hammer flakes.

A small number of those have additional blunting of one or both lateral sides. Five short end-

scrapers (CAT 86-7, CAT 225, 247, 354) are irregular/expedient specimens, with working-edges

shaped by sporadic and/or uneven retouch. The scraper-edge of CAT 86 is acute, and that of

CAT 87 denticulated. Apart from CAT 225 (GD = 48mm), all expedient end-scrapers are small

(GD = c. 30mm). CAT 247 is based on a thermal flake, whereas the other expedient end-scrapers

are based on small, irregular hard-hammer flakes.

Double-scraper CAT 272 is a fairly well-executed piece on a broad hard-hammer flake (35 x

42 x 9mm). It has a convex, steep working-edge at either distal corner. Two blade-scrapers (CAT

79 and 85) have both lost their proximal ends. They have convex, steep, distal scraper-edges, but

no additional lateral blunting. The left corner of CAT 85’s scraper-edge broke off in Antiquity,

but the break was partially repaired. The two implements were probably of approximately the

same general size, with a width of c. 26mm and a thickness of c. 8mm. Their original lengths

would have exceeded 40mm and 50mm, respectively. Three detached scraper-edge fragments

were also recovered (CAT 24, 26, 57). A large number of the Ballymoney scraper-edges are char-

acterised by overhanging areas, suggesting use.

Pieces with polished edges: One blade (57 x 24 x 6mm) with fine lateral edge-retouch has had the

left lateral side blunted by polish, and the left corner of the platform remnant – as well as the

right lateral side, proximal end – have also been polished. It is thought that the former modifica-

tion acted as protection of the users hand, whereas the latter may have been carried out to facili-

tate hafting. In both cases, the edges were first finely retouched and then polished. The right lat-

eral side displays flat, scaled modification of the ventral face; this feature most likely represents

wear from using the implement as a knife or possibly as a spoke-shave.

Pieces with edge-retouch: This tool group comprises 21 pieces. They differ considerably in size

(GD of intact pieces 24-59mm; av. dim.: 41 x 29 x 9mm) and shape, with all technologically de-

finable pieces being on hard-hammer flakes. This tool group probably includes artefacts and

fragments of artefacts with different functions.

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TECHNOLOGY

As indicated in the dating section, the present collection represents a mixture of elements from

the Early and Late Neolithic periods (leaf-shaped and chisel-shaped arrowheads). However, the

assemblage appears technologically homogeneous, and it seems that the various Neolithic groups

visiting the Ballymoney site belonged to the same lithic tradition. This probably means that the

finds were deposited over a relatively short span of time, such as the later part of the Early Neo-

lithic period and the earlier part of the following Late Neolithic period2, and in this section the

assemblage will be dealt with as a whole.

The industry is clearly dominated by flake production, with blades only amounting to 6%. It

has been proposed (Bordes & Gaussen 1970), that a blade ratio of 20% is required to define an

industry as a specialised blade industry, but this view is not shared by the present author. Alt-

hough the Ballymoney assemblage includes much fewer blades than this, the recovered blade

blanks are evidently products of an industry producing well-defined blades. The site’s blades are

fairly broad and robust macroblades (av. dim.: 37 x 16 x 6mm; av. L:W ratio 1:2.3), detached

mainly by the application of hard percussion, but they are clearly standardised products.

Circa 10% of all intact blades are bipolar, with a slightly higher bipolar ratio for the flakes (c.

15%). The character and general size of the bipolar blanks and cores, with some being very small

and some fairly large, suggest that bipolar technique was employed in two ways: 1) as a general

reduction method, and 2) as a way to completely exhaust abandoned platform cores. Bipolar

core CAT 257 is an example of the former approach, where a nodule was reduced entirely by the

application of bipolar technique, whereas three bipolar cores (CAT 23, 202, 203) represent the

cannibalization of abandoned platform-cores, and one core (CAT 234) an unusual attempt at

producing small flakes by the bipolar reduction of an abandoned flake. The latter should proba-

bly be seen as an idiosyncratic rather than typical product.

The platform cores were generally prepared by cresting – that is, the production of guide

ridges – and between the individual blade and flake series the cores were rejuvenated by the de-

tachment of core tablets. Approximately half of the ten intact blades have untrimmed platform-

edges, whereas the platform-edges of three blades are trimmed, and two are bipolar. Three

blades have plain platforms, whereas four have faceted platforms and one is finely faceted. The

two bipolar blades are characterised by having no platforms. The flakes generally display fewer

signs of core preparation.

The site’s secondary production is dominated by simple edge-retouch, but four arrowheads

(CAT 140, 228, 242, 263) are all characterised by having been shaped by the application of inva-

sive or semi-invasive retouch. One blade with simple edge-retouch (CAT 147) has had various

parts of its edges and corners blunted by polish. The convex left lateral side has been polished, as

a form of backing, whereas the right corner of the platform remnant, and the left lateral side,

proximal end, have been blunted, probably in an attempt to prepare the implement for hafting.

This form of modification is particularly common in British and Irish later Neolithic contexts (cf.

Manby 1974, 88-9; Ballin 2011b), and a similarly modified piece, a scraper, was recovered in

connection with recent excavations on the outskirts of Antrim town (Ballin 2005c, 15).

2 Some analysts subdivide the Neolithic period into two phases (Early and Late), others into three periods (Early,

Middle and Late). In the present paper a distinction is made between two phases, the Early and Late Neolithic peri-

ods, defined by the presence of certain pottery styles. Put simply, this paper distinguishes between an early phase

characterised by various pre-Grooved Ware pottery styles, and a later phase characterised (mainly) by Grooved Ware

pottery.

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In addition to the many artefacts in flint, the assemblage also includes two axeheads in por-

cellanite (CAT 412, 413). They probably obtained their basic shape by a combination of flaking

(the broadsides) and pecking (the flat butts), followed by meticulous polish of all surfaces, apart

from the butts.

DISTRIBUTION AND ACTIVITIES

Although the Ballymoney site (Areas 1-11) is fairly extensive, it has not been possible to subdi-

vide it into smaller, chronologically unmixed zones. Identical robust blade blanks were recovered

throughout the site, and the site is probably best perceived as an area defined by activity in the

later part of the Early Neolithic as well as in the earlier part of the Late Neolithic (see technology

and dating sections).

The knapping waste (debitage and cores), the number and character of the tools, as well as

the presence of likely domestic structures (eg, the circular/rectangular feature of Area 8) indicate

that most (although probably not all) lithic artefacts may have been deposited in connection with

domestic activities. However, the relatively low number of cores, in conjunction with the fact

that most chips probably owe their existence to fire-crazing/fire-induced disintegration rather

than knapping (see below), suggest that a proportion of the tools may have been manufactured

elsewhere and imported into the site.

The assemblage includes many burnt pieces (102 pieces, or 25%), which are probably main-

ly artefacts, or fragments of artefacts, which fell into domestic fireplaces in connection with the

manufacture or use of blanks and tools. The ‘burnt piece ratio’ is quite high, and a large propor-

tion of the fire-crazed pieces are chips or small flakes, deriving from a small number of cuts. In

total, 85% of all burnt chips were retrieved from Area 8, and although the site’s data structure

report (Bowen 2007) refers to many of the smaller features as postholes, the contents (burnt lith-

ics, charcoal, burnt bone, and pottery) of some of those features indicate that the term ‘pit’ may

be more appropriate, and that some of these could be either ritual or cremation pits.

Two Area 8 features were particularly rich in burnt chips, namely Pit 256, north of the main

structure of Area 8, and Slot 314, which defines the area’s rectangular structure. Approximately

80% of the burnt chips from Area 8 were recovered from these two cuts. It is difficult to explain

the burnt chips in the wall slot, but the burnt chips in Pit 256 were most likely produced in con-

nection with ritual or burial practices. During the excavation of Site 54F07, along the North-

West Pipeline through Antrim (Ballin 2005d), a Late Neolithic ritual assemblage was extracted

from pits, but those finds were dominated by tools and not chips, and the finds were generally

unburnt. This suggests that Pit 256, and possibly adjacent features, may be cremation pits, prob-

ably dating to the Early Bronze Age rather than to the Neolithic period (see dating section).

From Area 1, 25 burnt pieces were recovered, more than half of which came from Pit 18. In

contrast to the finds from the Area 8 features, the burnt pieces from Area 1 are largely chunky

indeterminate pieces. This difference is difficult to explain but may simply reflect different burn-

ing times and intensities during the pit activities, resulting in different levels of artefact disinte-

gration. The situation at Pit 18 is generally complex, as the feature has a lower fill (Context 43)

including 64 unburnt lithic artefacts (mostly scrapers, cores and preparation flakes) and pottery,

while the upper fill (Context 11) mainly contains burnt chunks. Both fills were characterised by

charcoal flecks, and Context 11 contained burnt bone. Until the burnt bone has been identified

as either human or animal, it is not possible to determine whether the finds from Pit 18 represent

an assemblage deposited in connection with ritual feasting (as for example suggested in connec-

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tion with the interpretation of the lithic finds from the Late Neolithic ditch at Whitepark Road in

Co. Antrim (Ballin 2005b), or whether the feature is a complex cremation pit.

The two polished stone axeheads (CAT 412, 413) were both recovered from pits. CAT 412

was retrieved from Pit 651 in Area 8, whereas CAT 413 was retrieved from Pit 56 in Area 1. Pit

651 was located south-west of Area 8’s rectangular building, and Pit 56 formed part of a small

horseshoe-shaped group of pits in Area 1. As mentioned above, it appears that both axeheads

had been ?ritually ‘decommissioned’, either by flaking or polish, which in both cases rendered the

implements useless. Both pits included some charcoal, and in Pit 56 the porcellanite axehead was

accompanied by worked flint, pottery and burnt bone. Until the bone material has been identi-

fied to species it is not possible to define the two pits as either ritual or cremation pits.

DATING

As, at the present moment, radiocarbon and pottery analyses have not been carried out, the only

elements of relevance to the dating of the lithic assemblage are the collection’s diagnostic tools

and technological attributes. Only four tools are diagnostic sensu stricto, namely the location’s four

arrowheads. A well-executed slender leaf-shaped point (CAT 242) was found in a small pit (C.

578) in Area 9. It dates to the Early Neolithic period. CAT 140 is the rough-out for a squat leaf-

shaped point, which dates to the same general period. It was recovered from Pit 73 in Area 3 in

association with 17 sherds of pottery. Chisel-shaped arrowhead CAT 228 was found in the fill of

Area 8’s Context 314, the main wall-slot of the site’s rectangular structure. It is uncertain, wheth-

er this artefact was deposited deliberately in the wall-slot in connection with the construction of

the building, or whether it arrived in the context when it was back-filled, but it definitely gives a

terminus post quem date for the building and parts of the Ballymoney flint collection. The final ar-

rowhead (CAT 263) could not be typologically classified with certainty, but the use of invasive

retouch dates the piece to the Neolithic-Early Bronze Age period (Clark 1936, 47; Butler 2005).

The two polished porcellanite axeheads (CAT 412, 413) are also diagnostic, although in a

broader sense. In her paper on porcellanite artefacts, Sheridan (1986, 27) suggests a date for the

use of porcellanite axeheads between c. 3800-2500 BC, embracing the Early and Late Neolithic

periods.

Technologically, the specific attributes of the Ballymoney hard-hammer blades suggest a

date around the transition between the Early and Late Neolithic periods: Late Mesolithic (Bann

or Larnian) hard-hammer blades are generally larger and thicker than the Ballymoney blades, and

they are usually associated with characteristic, robust platform-edge trimming (eg, Woodman &

Anderson 1990); in Ireland, earlier Early Neolithic blades were in most cases manufactured by

the application of soft percussion (Eogan & Roche 1997); and blade production was generally

phased out before the end of the Late Neolithic period (Ballin 2011a; b). The use of polish as a

means of modifying the edges of flint flake and blade blanks is mostly a Late Neolithic phenom-

enon, in mainland Britain (Manby 1974, 88-9; Ballin 2011b) as well as in Ireland (cf. Ballin 2005c,

15).

BRIEF SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

From the Ballymoney site, a total of 413 lithic artefacts were recovered. Apart from two porcel-

lanite axeheads, all finds are in flint. A high degree of frost-shattering, before and after deposi-

tion, suggests that most of the flint may have been procured from either the local till, or from

superficial layers in the chalk.

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The three main artefact categories – debitage, cores and tools – make up approximately

83%, 3%, and 14%, respectively. In total, 343 pieces of debitage were retrieved, with chips

amounting to 31%, flakes 44%, blades 6%, and indeterminate pieces 17%. Only five preparation

flakes (four crested pieces and one core tablet) were retrieved. Most of the blanks were detached

by the application of hard percussion, but a surprisingly large proportion was manufactured in

bipolar technique (12%). The flakes and blades are robust, with average dimensions of 29 x 25 x

8mm and 35 x 15 x 9mm, respectively, or considerably larger than most blanks from areas out-

with the Irish chalk flint province (Table 3).

As indicated in the technology section, the 12 cores – three platform cores, six bipolar

cores, and three core fragments – are not an adequate representation of the technology responsi-

ble for the assemblage. The operational schema clearly focused on the production of blanks by

the application of hard percussion. The tool category comprises 56 pieces, most of which are

medium-sized to large scrapers (53%). Other tool types include two polished stone axeheads,

four arrowheads, one piece with polished lateral edges, and 21 pieces with edge-retouch. With

38%, simple retouched pieces form the second most prolific tool group, whereas other tool cate-

gories amount to only 2-7% each. The scrapers are mainly short end-scrapers or related types

(discoidal scrapers, double-scrapers, and one blade-scraper), whereas side-scrapers and hollow

scrapers are absent. In contrast to most later Neolithic scraper assemblages, the scrapers from

the Ballymoney site almost exclusively have steep (rather than acute) scraper-edges (cf., the

scrapers from the Late Neolithic site of Whitepark Road; Ballin 2005b).

Technologically, the assemblage is the product of a blade industry, focusing on the produc-

tion of robust hard-hammer blades. Flakes were generally manufactured in the same manner,

either as part of the initial decortication and preparation process, or as part of actual parallel flake

production. Bipolar production also took place at Ballymoney, partly as a general reduction

method, and partly as a way to completely exhaust abandoned platform cores (explaining the dis-

crepancy between the high proportion of bipolar cores and the low proportion of bipolar

blanks). The distribution of the finds (not least the burnt flints) in pits, and too a smaller extent

the wall slot of the site’s main structure, suggests that the site represents domestic as well as ritu-

al/burial activities.

The arrowheads include Early as well as Late Neolithic forms, but as the unmodified and

modified blanks seem to be identical throughout the site, the finds most probably date to a rela-

tively restricted period at the end of the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Late Neolithic.

This date is supported by a piece with polished lateral edges – a type usually associated with the

later Neolithic period. Two porcellanite axeheads are only datable to the Neolithic period in gen-

eral.

Overall, the research potential of the Ballymoney lithics assemblage is relatively low, but the

finds may have some use as part of a general discussion of the Irish later Neolithic period. Over

recent years, a number of later Neolithic assemblages have been recovered from Northern Ire-

land, including the collections from Templecorran, The North-West Pipeline, Hightown Road,

Whitepark Road, and Cashlandoo, all from either Co. Antrim or Co. Derry (Ballin 2005b; d; e;

2007; Crothers 2000). Most of these recently retrieved assemblages were deposited in connection

with ritual activities, and in several cases lithic finds were associated with large ditches (Tem-

plecorran, Whitepark Road, and Cashlandoo) or pit complexes (North-West Pipeline, and Bally-

money). The finds from Hightown Road were mainly unstratified. As a whole, this group of sites

and assemblages provides a good basis for discussion of later Neolithic ideology.

of 16

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