Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a fold on a gentle N-facing slope. Archaeological testing (04E0034) by B. Halpin (excavations.ie 2004:1255) of a fairly small area (c. 2 ha) identified the fulacht fia (ME017-069001-), which was subsequently fully excavated (04E0261) by the same archaeologist (excavations.ie 2004:1256) when this smaller spread (dims 5.4m x 2.5m; max. T 0.15m) of burnt stone was identified c. 9m to the NE. The mound was cut by a N-S post-medieval stone-lined drain, and there was no trough beneath it. However, an oval pit (dims 2.9m E-W; 1.9m N-S) with a rounded bottom (max. D 0.44m) that contained 3 large stones (max. dims 0.86m x 0.44m; T 0.1m) stacked over each other and three fills with burnt mound material was just to its E. Just N of this pit was a second, round-bottomed pit (dims 1.9m N-S; 1.4m E-W; max. D 0.43m) also containing 3 large stones (max. dims 0.63m x 0.45m; T 0.06m) forming a rough platform at the base, and this pit was also filled with burnt mound material. No artefacts were recovered, but both pits can be interpreted as troughs. (Halpin 2004)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload; 26 February 2021

References

Halpin, B. 2004 Report on Archaeological Excavation at Kells, Co. Meath. Licence: 04E0261. Unpublished report, National Archaeological Services