Mount Sandel Mesolithic site

Mount Sandel Mesolithic site lies on a rise above the River Bann, just east of the Iron Age fort in Coleraine, County Londonderry. Radiocarbon tests show people lived here 9,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest settlements in Ireland. Only Gwendoline Cave in County Clare has earlier traces of occupation. The site is protected as a Scheduled Historic Monument on farmland in the Causeway Coast and Glens area. Archaeologist Peter Woodman led excavations here in the 1970s, uncovering the remains of early dwellings. The dig revealed at least ten oval huts built over shallow hollows, each about six metres wide. Their walls were formed by strong posts angled towards a central hearth, suggesting hide or reed coverings over sapling frames. Pits, post-holes and hearths show how the site was used for cooking and storage. No other Irish Mesolithic site has produced such clear house plans, so Mount Sandel dominates understanding of early Irish settlement. Finds include flint tools, two polished axe heads, animal bones and plant remains. Visitors walk among the low earthworks that mark the hut floors and hearths. The river valley and surrounding countryside give a sense of the landscape these hunter-gatherers knew. They caught salmon in summer, gathered hazelnuts in autumn and hunted wild boar in winter. Bones of duck, pigeon and grouse show how they relied on local birds. Apple seeds and water lily remains hint at the plants they gathered. The site offers a quiet place to imagine life nine thousand years ago.