Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a low-lying marshy area, with a SSW-NNE canalized section of a stream that flows N into the River Blackwater c. 40m to the E. Archaeological testing (04E1058) by G. McLoughlin (2005) at Testing Area 7 of Contract 5 of the M3 motorway identified archaeological features that were partially excavated (E003179) by D. Gallagher in February 2007 (excavations.ie 2007:1377) as Area A of Pottlebane 3. A spread of broken and burnt stone (dims 12m NW-SE; 8m NE-SW; D 0.03-0.34m) and a detached smaller spread (diam. 3m; D 0.25m) were excavated, but the larger spread extended outside the road-take at NE. An oval trough (dims 3.05m E-W; 1m N-S; D 0.35m) which was filled with a loose, brown/black silt with frequent heat-shattered stone and frequent inclusions of oak, hazel and maloideae charcoal. A sample of hazel charcoal from the trough produced a C14 date of 3770-3647 Cal. BC (Beta 247182) placing it firmly in the Neolithic. There were two small pits (dims 1.3m x 1m; D 0.28m: 0.8m x 0.58m; D 0.52m) c. 15m S of the trough filled with brown / grey silts or gravels with frequent charcoal inclusions, and a sample of hazel from one produced a C14 date of 404-207 cal. BC (Beta 247181). Two other pits could be associated with the fulacht fia. (Gallagher et al. 2008)

See the attached plan from Gallagher et al. (2008, fig. 7)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 4 March 2022

References

Gallagher, D., Ginn, V., and G. Kelleher 2008 M3 Clonee-North of Kells; Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Final Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Pottlebane 3, Co. Meath. Licence: E003179. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services

McLoughlin, G. 2005 M3 Clonee-North of Kells; Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 7 in Pottlebane, County Meath. Licence: 04E1058. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy