Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Site excavated by Richard Crumlish in 1997 under excavation licence no. 96E0345. Monitoring of topsoil-stripping along a 2km stretch of roadway, the proposed N8 extension of the Portlaoise Bypass, was carried out between 19 November 1996 and 14 February 1997. Towards the end of the monitoring period a burnt spread was uncovered at 780m along the roadway, in Clonaddadoran townland, two miles south of Portlaoise. This required a full investigation of the feature, which lasted for a period of two and a half weeks between 28 January and 14 February 1997. Topsoil-stripping along a number of associated local roads, an outfall pipe and the remainder of the 2km of the main roadway uncovered nothing of archaeological significance. Prior to excavation of the burnt spread there were no visible remains. One trench, orientated north-north-east/south-south-west, was opened to investigate the feature. It measured 15.6m in length, 12.5m in width and was excavated to a maximum depth of 1m. The excavation revealed a fulacht fiadh, complete with wooden trough, which had been levelled in the past. The levelling made it impossible to ascertain the original limits of the mound or to determine its orientation with any certainty. The remains of the mound measured 11m north-south, 9m east-west and 50-300mm in thickness. It consisted of burnt sandstone and quartzite with occasional quartz fragments. No artefacts and only a small amount of charcoal were recovered from the mound, which was located on a slight rise, less than 10m south of a dried-up watercourse. The wooden trough, located near the eastern limit of what remained of the burnt mound, measured 1.72m in length, 1m in width and 0.23m in maximum depth (it was impossible to determine its original depth as no side of the feature was fully intact). It was cut into the natural subsoil, orientated east-south-east/west-north-west, and constructed of eight oak planks, four making up the base and one on each enclosing side. It was filled with mound material, a peat-like fill and a large amount of wood at its base. The wood consisted of the roots of yew and alder, as well as hazelnuts, bark and animal bone. The felling date range for the oak used in the construction of the trough, 961±9 BC or later, places this site in the Late Bronze Age. The large number of bovine bone fragments, 25 in total, recovered from the basal fill of the trough would indicate that this site was used for cooking (Bennett 1998, 107-8).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 17 December 2007