Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a fairly level landscape. Archaeological monitoring (98E0352) by Donald Murphy of topsoil removal over an area of about 8 hectares (c. 20 acres) in the N borrowing area of a mining development identified four spreads of burnt mound material and other features that were completely excavated by the same archaeologist under the same license (excavations.ie 1999:708). In Area 1 a spread of burnt and broken stone in a black matrix (dims 8m E-W; 5m N-S) was in an irregularly-shaped hollow (D 0.25m) and had a rectangular trough (dims 1.75m x 1.65m; D 0.58m) at its E edge that was filled with heat-shattered stone in a grey/black silt. The edges of the trough were sloped at the top but vertical at the base (dims 1.45m x 1-1.25m) and a recess (dims 0.2m x 0.1m) extending from the surface to the base in the SE corner may have held a post although no timber was present. The mound covered a subcircular pit (dims 1.7m x 1.3m; D 0.55m) filled with burnt mound material and two other smaller pits. No artefacts were recovered. (Murphy 1999, 6-7)

See the attached images from Murphy (1999) _01 site plan fig. 4; _02 troughs

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 March 2023

Murphy, Donald 1999 Report on Archaeological Excavation at Randalstown, Co. Meath. Licence: 98E0352 ext. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services