County: Tipperary Site name: DER240, DERRYVILLE BOG, Killoran
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0158
Author: John Ó Néill, Lisheen Archaeological Project, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 620339m, N 666827m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.752123, -7.698719
In two places, Bord na Móna drains had exposed sections through a mound of burnt material (DER240) and a number of overlying trackways (DER241, DER242 and DER314; see Excavations 1997, No. 501). In all, sixteen trenches were excavated across the trackways and through the mound of the fulacht fiadh, revealing a single unstratified dump of firing debris in a roughly oval shape, 17.5m by 15m in diameter and up to 0.95m deep. This mound flattened towards the western (dryland) side of the site and contained about 90% heat-shattered stones, 90% of which were sandstone, the rest being limestone. The average length of the stones was about 50mm. These were contained within a peaty charcoal-rich matrix which also contained sand and silt.
A circular depression in the centre of the mound contained a rectangular trough, dug into the subsoil. It began as a rectangular pit, 2m by 1.35m by 0.6m deep, with plank-lined sides. A number of roundwoods and stones were also used as part of the lining. Some pegs and timbers lying in the base may also be associated with this original lining. Some of the planks in the side lining were propped up with stones, while others had tenons cut into the end which were inserted in holes in the side of the pit. During the phase of use of this lining the trough would have had a capacity of 1560 litres.
The original lining was then interfered with when the later relining was being inserted. This relining included large ash planks set vertically on each side and an oak plank with a mortise cut into each end set horizontally on the top of each side. A plank lining was also added to the base. During this phase of use the trough had a capacity of 1254 litres. Preserved below the build-up of peat and wood in the trough was a deposit of stones (98% sandstone) which appears to be from the last time the trough was heated.
A number of other features were recorded on the site, including an oval pit cut into the subsoil west of the site, which contained a deposit of stones and may have been a ‘pot-boiler’ trough. This could not be stratigraphically linked to the mound material but was sealed by the trackway (DER241) which ran onto the top of the fulacht fiadh. No evidence for a hearth could be found on the site, but a dense concentration of charcoal to the west of the trough seems to mark an informal hearth site. A saddle quern was recovered from a level east of the site which was contemporary with DER240.
Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary
