Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

In lowlying grassland, on the floodplains of the River Shannon located 700m to the W. Not depicted on any OS map. Initially identified during archaeological monitoring by Avril Hayes (Licence 01E0169) of a 5km way-leave associated with the laying of the Clareville to Newcastle pipeline (Hayes 2001). This revealed a spread of burnt and fire-cracked stones covering an area measuring 12m north–south by 4m. Excavated under licence no. 02E1403 by Frank Coyne, the results were summarised as following; ‘Excavation of this material revealed a series of pits and natural hollows, all filled with similar fire-shattered stone and charcoal. One of these pits produced a sherd of Beaker pottery and a piece of worked timber, tentatively interpreted as a wooden scoop or shovel. This may have been used to move the burnt stones and appeared to have been broken and abandoned in antiquity. A shallow rectangular pit was also identified, c. 10m to the east of the burnt spread. It measured 1.4m east–west by 0.9m and was cut into sand to a depth of 0.1m. It was also filled with burnt stone and occasional charcoal flecks. Part of an animal tooth was recovered from the fill of the pit. Its association with the main spread of burnt stone is unclear.’ (www.excavations.ie 2001; 1146, Hayes 2001, 2002; 1125 Coyne, 2002).

Compiled by Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload 15 June 2020

References

Coyne, F. 2002 Archaeological excavation of a Fulacht fiadh/Burnt Mound at Ballyvollane II, Co. Limerick. Unpublished report (Licence No. 02E1403), submitted by Aegis Archaeology Ltd. on behalf of Limerick City Council c/o Nicholas O’Dwyer, Consulting Engineers to the National Monuments Service, Dúchas.