What is recorded here

Half a metre across and no more, the trough fit one person's knees and a pot of water hot enough to kill what lived in it. The fire pit sat beside rather than beneath, stones carried across a span narrow enough to judge by heartbeat. Heat and pressure did what flame would have wasted. The road took the field in 2002, but the shape resistance remembers: small, patient, exact.

In 2002, archaeological excavation (Licence no. 02E0987) was carried out in advance of the proposed M4 Kinnegad-Enfield-Kilcock road development. 'Site 3' had been revealed by earlier linear archaeological testing (Licence No. 02E0141). A spread of blackened soil with charcoal in the centre of the site appeared from excavation to be associated with a small fulacht fia. A sub circular pit (diam c. 1.3m D 1.15m) represented the probable trough, and a number of stake-holes/stone sockets were identified around the edge of the feature, beneath the spread. A second, smaller, shallower pit immediately to the east was thought to have been the fire-pit/hearth, as it was too shallow to have held water, but there was no indication of in situ burning. The pits were filled with burnt stone and blackened soil (mound material). To the north-west of the main spread there was a smaller spread of clay and charcoal. Its significance was not clear, but a flint scraper was found in the area as the site was being cleaned back. (www.excavations.ie) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

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