Fulacht fia in Gunnocks

Archaeological monitoring (15E0577) by P. Duffy, D. Bayle and J. Whitaker of topsoil stripping over a large area (c. 92 ha.) conducted intermittently between Dec. 2015 and October 2018 uncovered 37 locations of potential archaeological importance (excavations.ie 2016:051). Each of these was further investigated by the same archaeologists under different licences. At Site 16, excavation (16E0195) by D. Bayley recorded (excavatioins.ie 2016:540) two pits (dims 1.28m x 0.9m; D 0.47m: 2.65m x 1.7m; max. D 0.3m) with fills of silty clays that had frequent inclusions of charcoal and stone. A spread (dims 1.8m x 0.7m; D 0.14m) of dark grey silty clay covered the smaller pit as the last remnants of the mound of the fulacht fia. A sample of alder charcoal from this pit provided a C14 date of 2136-1931 cal. BC (FTMC-DI25-4), placing it in the Early Bronze Age. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 15) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 26 April, 2023 Duffy, P., Fairhead, S. & F. Fleeshouven 2021 Final Excavation Report for Sites 3-37, Clonee, Portan, Gunnocks, Co. Meath. Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy