Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Fulacht fia
Saleen (carra By.), County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Saleen (carra By.)
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.84596, -9.28530
- SMR number
- MA078-072----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
On the S outskirts of Castlebar town, in an area of lowlying, damp ground 400m NE of Saleens Lough, located in a natural peat-filled hollow.
This fulacht fia was identified in August 2018 during archaeological testing (licence no. 18E0455) carried out on behalf of Mayo Co. Co. in advance of a proposed housing development (Zajac 2018; Zajac 2019). It was subsequently fully excavated under the same licence in December 2018 (Murphy 2019).
The excavation revealed a thin spread (6m E–W; 3m N–S; H 0.1m) of fire-cracked sandstone, charcoal fragments and charcoal-stained clay. It underlay peat, and the underlying subsoil consisted of white marl. It was truncated at N by a later land drain on an E–W axis.
No evidence of a trough was found, and there were no associated artefacts. Charcoal fragments from the burnt layer were identified as oak and ash. Within the peat at W edge burnt stone layer, there was a deposit of unworked wood, mostly twigs and small branches, which had been preserved in the boggy conditions. Five fragments of animal bone were recovered from this deposit; two fragments were identified as being from cattle leg bones.
The spread of burnt stones was interpreted by the excavator as the truncated remnants of a fulacht fia. A charcoal sample was submitted for radiocarbon analysis, and returned a calibrated date of 2578-2457 BC (3980+/-30 BP), indicating use in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date (Murphy 2019, 5).
Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 21 November 2019
References
Zajac, S. 2019 Archaeological report on predevelopment testing at Saleen, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Licence no. 18E0455. Unpublished report submitted to National Monuments Service, July 2019.
Murphy, D. 2019 Post excavation assessment report of a proposed housing development at Saleen, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Licence no. 18E0455 Unpublished report from Archaeological Consultancy Services submitted to National Monuments Service, July 2019.
Zajac, S. 2018:568 Saleen, Mayo. Burnt spread 18E0455
https://excavations.ie/report/2018/Mayo/0027532
Database of Irish excavation reports.
Nearby in the register
- Crannogunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Stone circleunder 1 mi
- Earthworkunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.