Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a level landscape c. 5m E of a canalised NNE-SSW stream. Archaeological monitoring (12E0387) of a sewer pipe by B. O’Hara (excavations.ie 2013:116) identified a spread of broken and burnt stone that was fully excavated under the same licecne. A layer of broken and burnt stone (diam. 6.6-6.72m; max. D 0.49m) was partially covered by silts and lay over a subcircular, straight-sided trough (diam. 1.6-2m; max. D 0.25m) with a flat base cut in the subsoil. The trough contained two fills with different quantities of heat-shattered stone, and a sample of cherry charcoal from the base produced a C14 date of 2111-1887 cal. BC. A second subcircular trough (diam. 1.5-1.77m; max. D 0.32m) with two stones set in its rounded base was nearby and had a single fill of silty clay with heat-shattered stone. A sample of willow from this fill produced a C14 date of 2291-2050 cal. BC. No artefacts were recovered from the monument. (O’Hara and Hourihan 2014)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload; 27 September 2021

O’Hara, B. and Hourihan, S. 2014 Final Report on Archaeological Excavations at Oldcastle Townland, Oldcastle, County Meath. Licence: 12E0387. Unpublished report, Rubicon Heritage