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Fulacht fia in Shanvaghera

Fulacht fia

What is recorded here

Alders and willow formed a shallow trough beneath a mound of shattered stone in Shanvaghera, waiting for water and heat. People may have gathered there to cook, clean or transform ordinary things before the road works revealed the remains. The wet peat preserved the shape of that labour while the land above forgot it.
In pasture, in an area of low gravel ridges with shallow valleys between, located in wet, lowlying peaty ground on the S edge of a deeper area of blanket bog. This fulacht fia was discovered during archaeological monitoring in advance of the construction of the Knock-Claremorris By-pass (Phase 2). It was excavated (00E0727) in 2000 (Zajac 2000). It consisted of a roughly circular spread (diam. c. 10m; D 0.5m) of heat-shattered stones and charcoal. It had been partly levelled during land reclamation and land drains cut through it. Beneath the mound, to E of centre, was a trapezoidal, plank-lined trough (1.8m NE-SW; 1m NW-SE) set in boulder clay. The trough timbers were predominately of alder, with one end plank of willow. A wooden peg, made of hazel, held the E end of the trough in place. A possible whetstone, hazelnut shells and three fragments of animal bone were recovered from the fill of the trough. (Zajac 2000) Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 8 December 2021

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What survives
Recorded monument

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