What is recorded here

Cloonbulban holds two stone troughs where heat and water collided during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The western basin still shadows the marks of a decayed wooden lining, while the eastern basin lost part of its edge to a later field drain. People may have gathered at the peat edge to cook, clean or transform raw material into life. The lost chert scarpers and charcoal suggest repeated fire, patient water and hands moving through darkness.

Located on the N bank of a stream, at the interface between an area of peat and drier ground. This fulacht fia was discovered during archaeological monitoring of the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme (2001-2002) and was subsequently fully excavated (01E0681) (Guinan 2015, 29-42; 48-51, Cloonbulban I). The fulacht fia consisted of a low irregular-shaped mound (9m N–S; 11m E–W) of sandstone fragments in a matrix of charcoal-rich, peaty soil. The mound had suffered disturbance in the past and a field drain cut through the centre. Excavation revealed two troughs cut into the underlying boulder clay. At W, there was a subcircular trough (1.1m N–S; 1.32m E–W; D 0.42-0.48m) with a series of narrow, regularly spaced linear soil-filled features visible in the base, possibly the remnants of a decayed wooden lining. The second trough, which was located 5m to E, was partly destroyed by the field drain that cut through the mound. The surviving E portion (1.06m N–S; 1.14m E–W; D 0.48m) had steep sides and a flat base. Both troughs had a gully-like feature extending downslope from the edge of the cut, which possibly served as an overflow channel. Twenty five chert artefacts were recovered, including two concave scarpers. Five charcoal samples were submitted for radiocarbon dating. Three of the samples produced dates from the Early Bronze Age: 3502 +/-49 BP (1970-1698 BC); 3702 +/-42 BP (2273-1976 BC); 3454 +/-42 BP (1889-1680 BC). Two samples taken from the basal layer in the eastern trough produced dates indicating activity at the site in the Late Neolithic period: 3822 +/-42 BP (2459-2141 BC); 3892 +/-42 BP (2553-2281 BC). Another fulacht fia (MA102-061----) was located 25m to E. (Guinan 2015, 29-42; 48-51). Compiled by: Jane O’ Shaughnessy Date of upload: 3 March 2016

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