Excavation

On the N outskirts of Ballina town, located at the base of the W-facing slope of a low grassy N–S ridge, on the edge of a lowlying area of reeds and scrubland, through which a small stream flows. This monument was discovered during monitoring of the Ballina main drainage scheme, and was subsequently fully excavated (licence no. 06E0195) in 2006 (Zajac 2009). A cluster of three stakeholes (each, diam. 0.2m; D 0.2-0.35m) was found in the vicinity of four discrete thin spreads (each c. 0.4m x 0.5m) of burnt stone and charcoal, which were confined to a relatively small area (8m N–S; 6m E–W). The fill of one of the stakeholes was almost entirely composed of charcoal. The remains as a whole were too meagre to be readily interpreted, however, given that two fulachtai fia (MA030-095----; MA030-096----) were found 50m and 22m to S, respectively, it is possible that they represent an occupation site associated with those fulachtai fia or perhaps the disturbed remnants of a third fulacht fia. (Zajac 2009). Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 13 August 2019