County: Meath Site name: NINCH, Laytown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 28:25 Licence number: 98E0501 ext.
Author: Eoin Halpin, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 716126m, N 771918m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.684067, -6.242014
The test excavations were positioned in order to assess the location and complexity of the site of a possible fulacht fiadh, noted during recent episodes of ploughing. The results showed that there was evidence that such a site existed in this area in the past. The remains, in situ, of the heat-cracked stone and black, charcoal-flecked soils attest to this. However, the fact that disturbed burnt mound material also survived in the furrows created by ploughing points to the probability that the site has been badly truncated by relatively recent agricultural improvements.
The area around the test site was field-walked, with numerous fragments of heat-cracked stone noted in the ploughsoil, adding strength to the above interpretation.
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