Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Identified by Audrey Gahan (Licence 97E0289) during archaeological monitoring associated with the N20/N21 Limerick Bypass (www.excavations.ie 1997; 338). Excavated under licence no. 99E0289 ext. by Cia McConway (McConway, 1997). The site was located on a former rugby pitch and had therefore been scarped and levelled. The results of the excavation were summarised as following; ‘Excavation located a burnt mound, in the form of two kidney-shaped ‘arms’ oriented roughly north–south. The western ‘arm’ measured 14.5m x 7m x 0.15m deep and was composed of blackened and heat-shattered stone. The eastern ‘arm’ measured 22.5m x 9m x 0.5m deep, the stone having been compressed into the underlying soft natural clay. This was composed of heat-shattered, blackened stone and red burnt stony soil. The ‘arms’ enclosed a central clay-lined trough, 2.58m x 2m x 0.54m, cutting through the subsoil. There was a shallower ‘basin’-type feature located along the western edge of the trough. A second subsoil-cut trough was located to the east of the burnt mound, measuring 1.96m x 1.42m x 0.36m. This pit had not been lined though there was a small post-hole in each corner, suggesting that they had held a small wooden frame, probably a spit. There was a cluster of stake-holes around the eastern edge of this trough and, though their function is unclear— they possibly held a windbreak—they undoubtedly have an association with the process of cooking. Both troughs were subrectangular in shape and filled with a black, greasy clay, packed with blackened and heat-shattered stone’ (www.excavations.ie; McConway 1998, 114).

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload: 29 June 2020

References

McConway, C. 1998 Dooradoyle. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1997: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 114. Bray. Wordwell.