EXCAVATIONS AT CHURCH STREET, BELFAST

Ulster Archaeological Society

Excavations at Church Street, BelfastAuthor(s): Cormac McSparron and Emily MurraySource: Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 63 (2004), pp. 114-122Published by: Ulster Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20568340 .

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Ulster Journal of Archaeology. Vol 63. 2004

EXCAVATIONS AT CHURCH STREET, BELFAST CORMAC McSPARRON

Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork

School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University, Belfast c. mc sparron @ qub. ac uk

with an appendix by EMILY MURRAY

An account of a rescue excavation carried out at Church Street, Belfast, in advance of development. A number

of pits were found, dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries, which contained domestic waste, waste from

butchering and waste from industrial activity.

INTRODUCTION Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, in advance

of the construction of commercial premises, carried out an excavation at Church St, Belfast, in 2000 (Fig 1). Two trenches were excavated along the proposed

course of two double lines of piles intended to support the superstructure of a building (Fig 2). Trench 1 was

17 m long and 3 m wide and Trench 2 was 14 m long and 3 m wide. A number of large pits were found

during the excavation, which contained artefacts

consistent with the dumping of domestic rubbish but

which also evidenced probable waste from butchering

Figl

and industrial activity. The site was located at Nos 19 to 27 Church St,

Belfast, Co Antrim, in the townland of Town Parks

(IGR J3377 7462) (Fig 1). Church St runs between

Lower Donegall St and North St, at the northern edge of the city centre area. The land use is currently a mix

of retail and administrative buildings and parks. At the

time of the excavation the building that had previously

occupied the site had been demolished, leaving a gap between the standing buildings.

Early maps of Belfast such as the 1685 Thomas

Phillips map (Phillips 1685) show that the site was

close to the edge of 17th-century Belfast, just inside

the town defences erected in 1642 (Simms et al 2003,

2). This map also shows houses and gardens at the

north-east side of the north end of North St. It is likely that the development site was located behind these

houses. The site continued to be in, or close to, the

back gardens of these North St houses for much of the

18th century. Church St first appears on a map by John

Mulholland dating to 1788 (Mullholland 1788). In a

map of 1791 by James Williamson (Williamson 1791) terraced buildings are shown running along both sides

of Church St, and Church St is clearly shown linking North St and Donegall St. The first, second and third

edition Ordnance Survey maps of Church St all show

the same street location and orientation, although the

layout of the buildings along both sides of Church St

changes somewhat from the terraced layout at the

beginning of the 19th century to being divided, on the

north side of Church St, into three blocks, similar to

the layout of the street today. From the beginning of the 19th century at least

some of the buildings on Church St seem to have been

used for commercial activities. The Belfast Directory for 1808 (Adams 1991) lists a number of commercial

properties on Church St including John and Thomas

How, muslin manufacturers, and Robert Greenlaw, a

merchant, with addresses simply given as Church St.

James Warton is listed as a grocer at 1 Church St and

114



y\ Trench! \??

I 1 \\ Trench 2 I

Fig 2

Thomas Whinnery, postmaster and agent for London

Newspapers, is listed at 6 Church St.

THE EXCAVATION Two trenches were excavated at the site, Trench 1 and

Trench 2 (Fig 2). These were positioned along the line

of two double rows of piles, which were the only parts of the new superstructure which would penetrate into

archaeological strata.

Trench 1 (Figs 3, 5, 6) Trench 1 was 17 m (north/south) by 3 m (east/west). The subsoil was grey sleech. A small pit C7, 0.8 m by 0.8 m and 0.3 m deep, cut the subsoil in the north of

the trench. It was filled by a dark brown soft silty loam

C6. A long pit or gully C8, 1.8 m long by 1.5 m wide

and 0.87 m deep, cut the subsoil slightly to the north

of the centre of the trench. The primary fill of C8 was

a thin layer of silt with a fibrous texture C4d, probably the remains of rotted vegetable matter. It was located

below a grey-brown silt C4c which contained a single

clay pipe bowl of mid-17th-century date. Above this

was a dark brown loam C4b which contained a mid

nth-century clay pipe bowl, some undiagnostic

glazed earthenware and a single piece of blackware, which could date from the 17th to 19th century. The

uppermost fill of C8 was a thin layer of dark organic material C4a. In the south of the trench a pit C20, 3.5 m by 0.8 m and 1.2 m deep, cut subsoil. The basal fill

of this pit was a soft, grey-brown sandy loam C24, which contained a considerable amount of animal

bone, especially horn cores, and was below a rubble

rich cindery loam C21a, which also contained some

animal bone. The upper fill of the pit was a black

brown, cindery loam C2?, which contained copper

slag, hand-made iron nails, undiagnostic glazed earthenware, mid-17th- to mid-18th-century slipware, creamware and pearlware dating from the late 18th to

early 19th century and an early 18th-century clay pipe bowl. In the south central area of the trench along the

west section a shallow depression C10, 5.0 m

(north/south) by 3.0 m (east/west) and 0.15 m deep, cut the subsoil. It was filled by sticky clay loam C1L

This layer contained a few pieces of undiagnostic earthenwares, slipware of late 17th- to early 18th

century date and creamware and pearlware of late

18th- to early 19th-century date. In addition there were

a number of clay pipe bowls including one with a

substantial fragment of stem attached dating from

1730-1780. C10 and C20 were both cut through by a

large, modem, concrete pier C5. In the centre of the

trench C8 and C10 were both cut through by a large pit C17, 7.0 m (north/south) by 1.7 m (east/west) and 1.5 m deep. The basal fill of C17 was a grey-brown silty

loam C26 which contained animal bone. The

uppermost fill was a brown loam C18. This fill

contained a large number of artefacts including,

undiagnostic earthenware, delft dating to the later 17th

to 18th century, trailed slipware of later 17th- to early

18th-century date, glass, creamware and pearlware of

late 18th- to early 19th-century date, window lead and

three clay pipe bowls. One of the clay pipe bowls

dated to the mid-17th century, one dated to the late

17th to early 18th centuries and one dated to the mid

18th century. Flooding of this pit C17 and the threat of

section collapse prevented its section from being fully recorded.

Trench 2 (Figs 4-6) Trench 2 was slightly smaller than Trench 1 at 14 m

(north/south) long and 3 m (east/west) wide. The

subsoil was grey sleech. At the north end of the trench, close to the east section was a sub circular, subsoil

3



' -S-FT

_f \_s?Ja 5 metres

Fig 4

cutting pit C29 that had a diameter of 1.25 m and was

0.5 m deep. The basal fill of C29 was a mid-brown

fibrous loam C31, below a grey loam/silt C32, which

contained a stone shoe-last and part of a leather sole.

The upper fill of C29 was a mid-brown loam flecked

with grey clay C30, which contained a few sherds of

glazed red earthenware. C29 had cut through a much

smaller pit C42, 0.4 m in diameter and 0.25 m deep, which also cut the subsoil. The basal fill of this pit was

a grey silt C42b, which was below an orange brown

fibrous loam C42a. At the north end of the trench was

a subsoil-cutting pit C41, 2.4 m (north/south) by 1.0 m

(east/west) and 0.7 m deep. It was filled by dark grey brown loam C41a, which contained earthenware and

trailed slipware of mid-17th- to early 18th-century date. Also in the north of the trench was a sub-circular,

subsoil-cutting pit C38, which was 1.6 m (east/west)

by 1.3 m (north/south) and 0.45 m deep. The basal fill was a grey silt C40, which was below the upper fill, a

brown humic loam C39. At the south end of the trench

there was a large subsoil-cutting pit C33, which had a

diameter of 2.5 m and was 1.0 m deep. The basal fill

of the pit was a grey-brown slightly silty loam C37

which was below a mid-brown loam C36 and a grey brown loam C35, containing glazed earthenware and a

small fragment of delft. The uppermost fill of C33 was

a mid-grey-brown loam with stones and building rubble C34.

THE FINDS1 Large numbers of artefacts were recovered during the

excavation. There were large amounts of clay pipes,

post-medieval pottery, slag, and a smaller number of

bottle glass, metal, stone and leather objects.

Clay pipes A total of 158 clay pipe fragments were uncovered

during the excavations at Church St. Of these 28 were

clay pipe bowls or clay pipe bowl fragments. A total of

130 were stem fragments. There were no complete

pipes although a number of examples had lengths of stem attached to the pipe bowls.

A number of the pipe bowls are datable to the 17th

century using the scheme outlined by Davey (1979). A

small, bulbous clay pipe bowl, with a pedestal foot

was found in Cl8. It dates to between 1640 and 1660. A clay pipe bowl from C4c has a small bulbous bowl

with rouletting around the lip and a spur foot. It dates to between 1640 and 1670. A clay pipe bowl from C11

belonging to the same date range and of almost exactly the same form has a stamp on the back of the bowl.

The stamp may be a crown although it is too worn to

be properly identified.

Pipe bowls of 18th-century date were also found.

Cll contained one clay pipe bowl dating to between

1690 and 1710, and two pipe bowls dating to between

1730 and 1780. One of the bowls was a particularly fine example with approximately 8 cm of stem

attached. A clay pipe bowl dating to between 1730 and

1780 was also found in C18 and a broken pipe bowl

possibly dating to the early 18th century was found in

C21.

Post-medieval pottery A substantial amount of post-medieval pottery was

found during the excavation. Among the types of

pottery found were slipware, blackware, delft, glazed earthenwares, creamware and pearlware.

S lip wares

A total of 18 Staffordshire-type slipware sherds were

found during the excavation. These were mainly trailed slipware body sherds with one handle fragment and two undecorated base fragments. This type of

pottery was made throughout the 17th and 18th

centuries, mainly in the Bristol and Staffordshire areas

(Gahan & Twohig 1997).

Blackware

Fragments of several blackware vessels were found

dating to the 17th or 18th century, and possibly later.

These vessels were manufactured at Buckley in north

Wales, Merseyside and Staffordshire (McCutcheon 1997, 94).

Delft

Six sherds of delft were found during the excavation.

All the pieces were small body sherds except for one

small base sherd. The earliest delft found in Ireland was probably produced in England in the mid-17th

116



c _4a

~~S^^^ * r

^ G_

\ 41? J

31

^^ ^-y29

K_ L

V^40/ 38

i? i

2 metres

Fig 5

century. There was delft production in Belfast from

1697 to 1725, making use of local clays which were

well suited to delft production (Francis 2001,1). By the mid-18th century delft began to be replaced by

superior copies of porcelain and its popularity waned.

Cream ware and pearl ware

Sherds from a total of about fourteen creamware

vessels, some finely decorated, were found.

Creamware dates from the mid-18th century and it has

been suggested that a small amount of creamware may have been produced in Belfast from the 1760s, with a

well-documented creamware factory, the Downshire

Pottery, located in Belfast from 1787 to 1806 (Francis 2001,12) About eighteen pieces of fine pearlware were

also found with blue, underglaze, decoration. A

number of the pieces had Chinese-style decoration

while others were decorated in a European style.

Glazed red earthenwares

A wide variety of fragments of glazed earthenwares were found during the excavation. These date to the

17th and 18th centuries and may have been produced

locally. They have been found widely in Ireland and more specifically in Belfast and Carrickfergus (McNeill & Baillie 1988, 361)

Metal objects Four hand-made iron nails and some non-ferrous

metal slag were recovered from C21 in addition to an

iron key found within C4a. A number of fragments of

waste lead and two pieces of window lead were

recovered from C18.

Glass

Small, heavily patinated glass fragments were found

throughout the excavated strata. They were too small

for a more specific identification.

Leather objects A number of fragmentary scraps of leather were found on the excavation. A portion of a sole 16.5 cm by 8.5

cm was found in C31.

Stone objects A smoothed sub-rectangular stone 11 cm by 8 cm by 4

cm was found in C31. It was possibly a stone shoe

last.

Animal Bone

A considerable quantity of animal bone was recovered

during the excavation. This was analysed by Dr Emily

Murray of the School of Geography, Archaeology and

Palaeoecology, Queen's University. Dr Murray identified bones of cattle, sheep/goat, pig, horse, cat

and some bird bones. A considerable quantity of cattle

horn cores, found in pits (C8, Cl 7, C20 and C33) were

considered as being significant. However Dr Murray stated that she had found little direct evidence of the

horn cores having either been used in tanning or horn

working and suggested that it was most likely that the

horn cores were waste from butchering. Butchery marks were found on many of the other cattle bones

suggestive of the carcasses having been chopped in

half along their length. The bone report is included in

full as an Appendix.

DISCUSSION Trench 1

The earliest feature in Trench 1 was a pit C8. Its fills

produced no artefacts later than the mid-17th century. The finds from the pits C10 and C20 suggests that they

117



B_A

/ / \\ Concrete pier / 21 ̂ --?r

- >_?^^\7

IrN 24^ __= 2m

Fig 6

are later. The primary fill of C?O contained late 18th to early 19th-century creamwares and pearlwares. The

primary fill of C20 contained no datable artefacts but

did contain, in its upper layers, late 18th- to early 19th

century creamwares and pearlwares. The pit C17 was

stratigraphically the latest feature in Trench 1. It

contained no easily datable artefacts in its basal fill;

however, its upper fill contained much pearlware and creamware dating to the late 18th or early 19th

centuries.

The function of the features in Trench 1 may have

been connected to the butchering industry. There were

large quantities of animal remains from these pits,

especially C17 and C20 and it has been suggested by

Emily Murray that they were waste pits from

butchering (see Appendix). Some fragments of non

ferrous metal slag suggest that metalworking may have taken place close by.

Trench 2

There were fewer artefacts to accurately date the

features in Trench 2. The artefacts in pits C29 and C38 were mainly slipware, which was datable to the 17th to

18th century, with one piece of delft, datable to before

the middle of the 18th century. Likewise pit C33

contained slipware and one sherd of delft, suggestive of a date before the mid-18th century. The absence of

the creamwares and pearlwares in Trench 2 suggests that these pits must have been closed before these

ceramic types became commonplace in the middle of

the 18th century. There are no indications that the pits in Trench 2

are anything but general rubbish pits, although the

presence of a shoe-last and portion of a leather sole in

C29 is suggestive of cobbling in the immediate area

around the site.

CONCLUSIONS The site at Church St was located at the edge of 17th

and 18th-century Belfast, just inside the town ditch.

The excavation shows that the area was used for the

disposal of general waste and waste from industrial

activity, particularly butchering. There is also some

evidence for metalworking and cobbling in the area

around the site. The absence of more concentrated

activity at the excavation site might indicate that for

most of the 17th and 18th centuries there was little

pressure, either through population pressure or

commercial or industrial pressure to make the town

expand beyond its limits. The site shows no evidence

for archaeological features after the late 18th/early 19th centuries. This is probably explained by the

construction of buildings, both residences and commercial premises, in Church St around 1800.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks are due to the excavation team, including James

Thompson, Simon Large, Colin Dunlop and Neil Yeamen who worked very hard in often waterlogged conditions. Thanks are also due to Emily Murray of the School of

Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University, Belfast, who analysed the animal bone remains from the site.

NOTE 1 The finds are housed at the time of writing at NAC Ltd,

Farset Enterprise Centre, 638 Springfield Road, Belfast.

REFERENCES Adams, J R R 1991 Merchants in Plenty: Joseph Smyth's

Belfast Directories of 1807 and 1808, With an Historical Introduction and Bibliography of Belfast Directories to 1900. Belfast.

Davey, P 1979 The Archaeology of the Clay Tobacco Pipe, I

(BAR British Ser 63). Oxford.

Francis, P 2001 A Pottery by the Lagan. Belfast.

Gahan, A & Twohig, D C 1997 'Late medieval and post medieval/modern pottery', in Cleary, R M, Hurley M F & Shee Twohig, E (ed), Skiddy's Castle and Christ Church, Cork, Excavations 1974-77 by D.C. Twohig, 130-58. Cork.

McCutcheon, C 1997 Tottery and roof tiles', in Hurley, M F, Excavations at the North Gate, Cork, 1994, 75-101. Cork.

McNeill, T E & Baillie, M G L 1988 'An early eighteenth century pottery assemblage from Dunbar Street, Belfast', in Mac Niocaill, G & Wallace, P F (ed), Keimelia, Studies in Medieval Archaeology and History in Memory of Tom

Delaney, 349-64. Galway. Mulholland, J 1788 Plan of the Town of Belfast. PRON1,

T/1541/10.

Phillips, T 1685 A Coloured Plan of Belfast. National Library of Ireland, MS 3137(41).

Simms, A, Clarke, H B & Gillespie, R, 2003 Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No. 12, Belfast Part 1, to 1840. Dublin.

Williamson, J 1791 A Map of the Town and Environs of Belfast. Belfast.

118



APPENDIX: ANIMAL BONES FROM CHURCH STREET, BELFAST EMILY MURRAY

School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University, Belfast

[email protected]

INTRODUCTION A small assemblage of hand-collected animal bones was recovered from the series of pits excavated at

Church St, Belfast (Table 1). The-overall date-range for the material is the 17th-18th century. Some of the

contexts have been more tightly dated, as suggested by associated finds of clay pipes, but given the small size

of the faunal assemblage, the material has not been

sub-divided into smaller units.

METHODS OF ANALYSIS The assemblage was recorded using a modified version

of a system devised by Davis (1992). This system considers a selection of anatomical elements as

'countable' while the presence of non-countable

specimens of interest is noted. Measurements follow von

den Driesch (1976) and Davis (1992, fig 2), and

toothwear is after Grant (1982). Sheep/goat distinction was attempted on distal metapodials, distal tibiae, distal

humeri, astragalai and calcanei using the criteria of

Boessneck (1969) and Kratochvil (1969). Caprine horn

cores were also differentiated to species. No attempt was

made to try to age or sex the cattle horn-cores.

RESULTS The quantified assemblage comprised a total of 82

specimens represented by cattle, sheep/goat, pig, horse

and cat (Tables 2, 3). No positive goat bones were

noted. A small number of bird bones (N = 7) were also

found in pits 10, 17 and 20 but these have not been

identified to species, and a single mussel shell (Mytilus

edulis) was recovered from pit 8. The mandibular

ageing data was limited to just two specimens: a

juvenile pig mandible (deciduous fourth premolar Grant Stage c; first permanent molar in eruption) and

an isolated cattle third molar (Grant Stage e). The assemblage also contained a number of post

cranial elements with clear signs of butchery. These

included a cattle metacarpal that had been chopped to

access the marrow and several vertebrae ('non

countable') that had been chopped through, cranio

caudally. This suggests that cattle carcasses had been

chopped in half along their length, as is seen in many butchers' shops today. A cattle radius had a shallow cut

mark mid-shaft, probably caused during the process of

defleshing either by the butcher or consumer. A

sheep/goat radius also showed signs of gnawing,

providing indirect evidence for the presence of dogs

and suggesting that they must have had access to the

bones before they were buried.

Cattle horn-cores

The most notable aspect of the Church St material is

that around one fifth of the quantified assemblage is

made up of cattle horn-cores. The horn-cores were

found in pits 8, 17, 20 and 33, with pit 20 producing more than half of these. Based on the number of left

and right sides present, they represent a minimum of

eight animals. Few of the horn-cores were complete but the three lengths recorded (Table 4) indicate that two fall within the Tong-horned' group as classed by

Armitage (1990, table 4) and the third within his

'medium-homed' group. A short-horned specimen, which was incomplete and therefore unsuitable for

measurement, was also represented. A comparison of

the minimum and maximum diameters of the bases of

the horn-cores shows that they are a fairly mixed

sample (Fig 1). A similar observation was made by

Murphy (1999) in her analysis of samples of post medieval cattle horn-cores from excavations at

Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. The majority of 16th-, 17th

and 18th-century cores were found to have originated from medium- and long-homed cattle, but with short

horned cattle also represented (ibid). A comparison of

the size of the horn-cores from the two sites (Fig 1 ) shows that the Church St sample compares best with

the more recent assemblage from Carrickfergus, dated

to the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Cattle horn cores

* x *

X ***&% *

* *x x x Carrickfergus 16lh& 17th C x x Carrickfergus 18,19 &20thC

Church Street

25 30 35 40 45 50 55 fjO 65 TO 75 Wmin(mrri)

Fig 1 Size distribution of cattle horncores: a

comparison of the basal diameters (minimum and

maximum) for horncores from Church St, Belfast

(Table 4) and Carrickfergus (after Murphy 1999, table 46).

119



The majority of the Church St horn-cores had part of the cranium still attached and several of these

showed evidence of having been hacked off, with a

cleaver or axe, by a blow directed across the back of

the skull. No conjoined pairs of cores were found but as there was no evidence for the skull having been

chopped in two along the medial line, it is probable that the cores were removed together and were

subsequently separated, either accidentally or

purposely. The same method of butchery was noted by

Armitage (1990) in his analysis of a large assemblage of 16th-century cattle horn-cores from Chichester, and

his report includes good illustrations of the butchery methods employed. No evidence for the removal of

the hide or horn, as represented by superficial knife

marks, was noted on any of the Church St specimens. Concentrated deposits of cattle horn-cores found

on archaeological sites generally derive from butchery,

tanning or horn-working (Serjeantson 1989; Albarella

2002), although it is not always possible to determine

with certainty which of these was the primary

producer of the material. No cut marks were observed

around the basal circumferences of any of the Church St cattle horn-cores, which is often the case where the

horn sheath has been deliberately removed with a

knife. There is also no archaeological or documentary evidence to suggest that there was either a tannery or

horn workshop in the immediate vicinity at this time.

The likelihood therefore is that most of the material

derives from a local slaughter-yard or butcher's

premises.

REFERENCES Albarella, U 2002 'Tanners, tawyers, horn working and the

mystery of the missing goat', in Murphy, P & Wiltshire, P

(ed), The Environmental Archaeology of Industry, 71-86. Oxford.

Armitage, P 1990 'Post-medieval cattle horn cores from the

Greyfriars site, Chichester, West Sussex, England', OVca^7(2)(1990), 81-90.

Boessneck, J 1969 'Osteological differences between sheep (Ovis aries L.) and goat (Capra hircus L.)', in Brothwell,

D & Higgs, E (ed), Science in Archaeology: 331-85. London.

Davis, S J 1992 A Rapid Method for Recording Information about Mammal Bones from Archaeological Sites (AML

report 19/92; English Heritage). London.

Grant, A 1982 'The use of tooth wear as a guide to the age of domestic ungulates', in Wilson, B, Grigson, C & Payne, S

(ed), Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites (BAR British Ser 109), 91-108. Oxford.

Kratochvil, Z 1989 'Das Fehlen des 2. Pr?molaren beim

europ?ischen Reh (Capreolus capreolus L.) aus der

j?ngeren Steinzeit', Zeitschrift f?r Jagdwissenchaft 32

(1989), 248-51.

Murphy, E 1999 Osteological Report on the Mammal Bones

from Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. Unpublished. Serjeantson, D 1989 'Animal remains and the tanning trade'

in Serjeantson, D & Waldron, T (ed), Diet and Crafts in Towns [BAR British Ser 199), 129-46. Oxford,

von den Driesch, A 1976 A Guide to the Measurement of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites (Peabody Museum Bulletin 1). Cambridge, Mass.

Context No Context type Feature Trench Date range NISP

4B pit fill Pit 8 1640-1670 7.3

11a pit fill (upper layer) Pit 10 1730-1780 10 72.2

pit fill Pit ?0 1730-1780 7.3

pit fill Pit 17 1730-1760 25 30.5

pit fill Pit 20 1700-1740 15 18.3

30a pit fill (upper layer) Pit 29 17th-18thC 4.9

30 pit fill Pit 29 17th-18thC 4.9

32 pit fill Pit 29 17th-18thC 1.2

35 pit fill Pit 33 E-M 18th C 8.5

4.9 4lb pit fill (upper layer) Pit 41 E-M 18thC

Table 1 Church St, Belfast. Frequency of mammal bone fragments (NISP) by Context and Feature

(NISP = number of 'countable' specimens).

120



Pit 8 Pit 10 Pit 17 Pit 20 Pit 29 Pit 33 Pit 41 Total %

Cattle_6 10 13 13 6 6 1 55 67.7

Sheep/goat_? 6 6 ? 3 1 3 19 23.2

sheep_? 2 I ? 1 I I 6 7.3

Pig_? ? 4 _ _- ? _ 4 4.9

Horse_? ? 1 2 ? ? ? 3 3.7

Cat_? ? ]_____ \ 1.2

_6 16 25 15 9 7 4 82_

Table 2 Church St, Belfast. Distribution of mammal bones (NISP) by species and pit. The totals of sheep/goat bones includes the specimens (in italics) identified to species.

Element/Species_Cattle_Sheep/goat_Pig_Horse_Cat

Horncore_15_1_?_?_?

Skull_?_?_?_?_?_

Mandible 1 ? 1 ? ?

isolated teeth

Atlas

Axis

Scapula

Hum?rus

Radius

Ulna

Metacarpal

Pelvis

Femur

Patella

Tibia

Astragalus

Calcaneum

Scafocuboid

Metatarsal

Metapodial

Tarpal/carpal

Phalanx 1

Phalanx 2

Phalanx 3

Total NISP 55 19 4 3 1

Total %_67J_232_?2_il_UL

Table 3 Church St, Belfast. Distribution of identified elements (NISP) from all pits combined.

121



Feature Species Element GL'/GLl2/

LOC3

Bp SD Bd B@F BT HTC WminWmax

Pit 29 cattle astragalus 59.22 38.7

Pit 17 cattle horncore 300.03 51.6 62.4

Pit 20 cattle horncore 460.53 62.5 67.2

Pit 20 cattle horncore 550.2; 62.6 74

Pit 17 cattle horncore 41.2 50

Pit 20 cattle horncore 41.5 50.2

Pit 08 cattle horncore 42 54



Pit 20 cattle horncore 51 68.2



Pit 29 cattle metacarpal 55.3 49.7

Pit 10 cattle metacarpal 61.6

Pit 17 cattle metacarpal 65.5

Pit 10 cattle metatarsal 4L!

Pit 29 cattle radius 74

Pit 33 cattle tibia 55.5

Pit 33 sheep horncore 23.5 32.2

Pit 29 sheep hum?rus 27.2 13.4



Pit 10 sheep metatarsal 22.4

Pit 41 sheep metatarsal 121.31 18.1 21.2

Pit 10 sheep/goat metatarsal 19.2

Pit 10 sheep/goat radius 33

Pit 17 sheep/goat radius 30

Table 4 Church St, Belfast. Measurements (in mm) of cattle, sheep and sheep/goat bones, after von den Driesch

(1976), with the exception of: LOC = length of the posterior-dorsal 'outer' curve of horncores; Wmin and

Wmax are the minimum and maximum diameters of the horncores; B@F after Davis 1992, fig 2.

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EXCAVATIONS AT CHURCH STREET, BELFAST

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