A late Bronze Age field system and traces of settlement on the Antrim Plateau

Upland landscapes can be challenging environments for the settlement and subsistence of past communities due to their elevation and environmental sensitivity. These challenges have, however, contributed to the preservation of abundant archaeological remains, many of which are now wholly or partially covered by blanket peat. Here we report the results of some initial investigations into relict field and settlement evidence in the Antrim Plateau. The use of airborne laser scanning and orthoimagery, including that from infrared band, has enabled the identification and mapping of a series of stock enclosures, round houses and field walls on the Antrim plateau. Ground survey over a period of six years has allowed these to be recorded in detail. Excavation and radiocarbon-dating of one of the field walls and one round house suggest that they were both constructed in the Late Bronze Age. Previous palaeoenvironmental evidence had shown that the plateau supported extensive woodland, but that localized clearance took place in the vicinity of the fields. That pollen evidence suggested that the fields were used primarily for pasture rather than arable agriculture.