Fulacht fia in Ballinter

Located in a level landscape on the W bank of a canalised section of the River Skane, on the broad curve where the river changes the direction of its flow from SE-NW to N and NE. Archaeological testing (04E1499) by R. Tobin on the line of a sewer-pipe identified three potential archaeological locations in Ballinter. This monument is designated Ballinter 2 but it was accidently truncated at its SW edge and only the wood-lined trough and part of the mound was subsequently excavated (04E1462) by D. Fallon. Three alluvial deposits pre-dated the burnt mound and one yielded 17 fragments of animal bone, two of them heat-scorched. The trough was a rectangular cut (dims 1.4m x 0.75m; D 0.3m) inserted through two of the alluvial layers into the underlying gravel. The primary fill was a grey plastic clay which may have formed a water-proof lining for the four badly decayed pieces of wood set into its upper surface. Two of the wood pieces were identified as alder roundwoods. Above the timber floor was a deposit of charcoal-rich soils with heat-shattered stones that melded into the burnt mound (surviving dims 5.5m NW-SE; 3.5m NE-SW; T 0.14m) that originally extended off to the SW. A sample of oak charcoal from this yielded a C14 date of 2620-2470 cal. BC. (Fallon 2010, 12-14) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload; 26 February 2021