The Rath at Ballymacash, County Antrim

Excavation of the rath at Ballymacash, Co. Antrim, gave a comprehensive view of the internal arrangements of a two-phase rath of the earlier second millennium AD. The phase II rath had a small, square, two-period house near the centre, which was succeeded by a poorly built round house. Surrounding the houses was a cobbled yard leading to a causeway entrance. Around the inside of the phase II rath bank was a continuous structure with an oven, a drying kiln, a hearth and a substantial post-and-wattle structure at its south-eastern end. To the north and east were the remains of a stave tub and a granite quern. Such systematically developed peripheral buildings are a novel feature in rath archaeology. The phase I layout also had peripheral occupation, but little internal evidence survived. Phase I seems to have been without pottery, although souterrain ware was fairly common in phase II.