What is recorded here

Half a metre of blackened stone and river clay still lies beside the Broad Meadow River in Killegland. People heated water there before roads or bridges existed, perhaps to cook food, clean tools or prepare a bath. The mound is small enough to walk around in a minute, yet it keeps the patience of someone who carried hot stone from the river and set it down without hurry.

Situated on the N bank of the W-E Broad Meadow River at a point where the stream runs briefly SW-NE. It is adjacent to the ford (ME045, 005002-), but at an earlier period the stream was wider and extended further N. Archaeological testing (05E0423) by W. O. Frazer (excavations.ie 2005:1142) in advance of the building of a new road bridge and roundabout identified burnt mound material which was later completely excavated by J. Kavanagh (excavations.ie 2006:1495) under the same licence. The burnt mound deposit (dims 5.1m N-S; 2.55m E-W; T 0.05-0.42m) was on layers of sand, gravel, silt and clay from the bed of the river. Three smaller deposits (diam. c. 0.45-0.6m) were detached from it, and the burnt stone material was covered by two compacted layers of mottled clayey silt. A pit (dims 1.72m E-W; 0.55m N-S) filled with similar burnt mound material was just o the N but it had a large stone protruding from it. No trough was identified, and no artefacts were recovered. (Frazer 2005; Kavanagh 2006) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 December 2021

Burnt mound in Killegland is a Neolithic ritual or industrial site, dating to approximately 4000–2500 BCE. Its significance lies in providing evidence of early human activity, possibly related to heat-treated stone use or ceremonial practices.

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