1999:505 - GORTEEN, Limerick

The site is in Gorteen townland, c. 10km south-west of Limerick City, near Adare, to the south of the present N21. The site was uncovered during archaeological monitoring of topsoil-stripping before road construction on the N20/N21 Adare to Annacotty road scheme. A rescue excavation was carried out over twelve weeks between July and September. Excavation revealed two fulachta fiadh on either side of a dried-up river channel, possibly a tributary of the River Maigue.

A stone well had been cut through the larger fulacht fiadh, Site B, which was on a natural spring. The well was subrectangular and measured 1.8m by 1.2m. It was of drystone construction, composed of large, rectangular blocks of limestone. This stone structure was surrounded on all sides by rounded cobblestones, which filled the cut excavated through the fulacht fiadh mound for the well. The spring flowed very strongly, filling the well and flowing out of a specially constructed stone drain towards the low ground between the two fulachta fiadh.

The smaller site, Site A, had a very shallow spread of burnt material (rather than a mound) that measured 7.5m in diameter and 0.15m in maximum depth. One cut feature uncovered beneath the spread may originally have been a trough; however, this was impossible to determine as it was badly truncated on its northern side. This side of the burnt spread had also been disturbed and displaced, probably by water action during the rising and falling of the adjacent river.

Site B was a much larger site with a mound measuring c. 12m in maximum diameter and 0.73m in maximum depth. It had also been very disturbed by water action on its southern and south-western side, again the side exposed to the fluctuating river levels. A number of distinct phases of activity were identified on this site. The earliest were a number of subsoil-cut features, some of which may have been natural, while others were stake-holes in a linear arrangement aligned east-west at the northern end of the site. These features were separated from the fulacht fiadh activity by a layer of peat and in some places by a layer of finely crushed shells. A second phase of activity is represented by a deep, rectangular pit (2.7m x 0.8m and at least 1m deep) dug through the peat and the underlying subsoil. The fill of this pit was a mixture of redeposited subsoil and peat, indicating that it had probably been backfilled shortly after it had been dug, during which time a small, polished stone axehead was deliberately placed in the fill.

No other artefacts or animal bone were recovered from either of these fulachta fiadh. No additional pits, which could have served as troughs, survived. It is possible that the trough had occupied the position of the natural spring and was destroyed during the insertion of the stone well, for which a large cut was excavated through the mound.