Fulacht fia in Coarha More — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Nine centuries before Christ, hands stacked hot stones above a slab trough in Emlagh Bog, rendering fat or cleaning meat while peat smothered the violence of heat. The mound still holds fire-shattered rock and ling charcoal, preserving the shape of that repetitive labour long after the people vanished. Peat-cutting tore back the bog to reveal the hearth and trough, returning a forgotten kitchen to the light on Valencia Island.

This well-preserved fulacht fiadh was exposed by peat-cutting on the gentle, S facing slope of a rise in Emlagh Bog, Valencia Island. It is located just W of a modern trackway and consists of a mound, a stone-built hearth and a slab-lined trough. It rests on 2m of peat. The sod-covered mound is approximately oval-shaped in plan. It measures 5.6m NE-SW x 5m NW-SE and rises 1.25m above surrounding ground level. It is largely composed of fire-shattered stone, with ling charcoal and flecks of vivianite occurring throughout. The hearth is located at its W end; its S and E sides, .5m high, are formed of roughly coursed, fire-reddened stones. It opens onto the trough at NW, which is of rectangular plan and is constructed of upright slabs set on edge. It measures .7m N-S x 1.85m E-W. The W end-stone is missing. An orthostat, 1.1m high, stands .8m NE of the trough and has been partially incorporated into the mound. A sample of charcoal from the body of the mound yielded a radiocarbon determination of 3250±100 BP (Mitchell 1989, 67). The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 419. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013

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