Fulacht fia in Saleen (carra By.)

On the S outskirts of Castlebar town, in an area of lowlying, damp ground 400m NE of Saleens Lough, located in a natural peat-filled hollow. This fulacht fia was identified in August 2018 during archaeological testing (licence no. 18E0455) carried out on behalf of Mayo Co. Co. in advance of a proposed housing development (Zajac 2018; Zajac 2019). It was subsequently fully excavated under the same licence in December 2018 (Murphy 2019). The excavation revealed a thin spread (6m E–W; 3m N–S; H 0.1m) of fire-cracked sandstone, charcoal fragments and charcoal-stained clay. It underlay peat, and the underlying subsoil consisted of white marl. It was truncated at N by a later land drain on an E–W axis. No evidence of a trough was found, and there were no associated artefacts. Charcoal fragments from the burnt layer were identified as oak and ash. Within the peat at W edge burnt stone layer, there was a deposit of unworked wood, mostly twigs and small branches, which had been preserved in the boggy conditions. Five fragments of animal bone were recovered from this deposit; two fragments were identified as being from cattle leg bones. The spread of burnt stones was interpreted by the excavator as the truncated remnants of a fulacht fia. A charcoal sample was submitted for radiocarbon analysis, and returned a calibrated date of 2578-2457 BC (3980+/-30 BP), indicating use in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date (Murphy 2019, 5). Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 21 November 2019