County: Clare Site name: BALLYMALEY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0400
Author: Michael Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, for Judith Carroll Archaeological Consultancy
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 535264m, N 680738m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.873645, -8.961606
The background to this excavation is outlined under No. 49, Excavations 2000 (98E0277). This was a dryland site located c. 20m up a gently sloping hill from a small area of bog. The remains of another previously unrecorded fulacht fiadh located on the north-western edge of the bog were noted and reported. The site had been largely levelled by recent human activity. Discussions with local landowners revealed that the site of the fulacht fiadh lying in the corridor of development had been bulldozed into the marsh to improve the field for agricultural use and to help reclaim the bog. This was consistent with the evidence at the site, where a large mixed spread of burnt stone and soil was found piled up at the edge of the bog immediately downhill from the core area of interest. This core was defined by a number of cut features.
The main feature was a large pit, 6.62m long, 2.28m wide and 0.22m deep. The uppermost contexts were a series of backfills, which had some burnt stone inclusions. At the northern end, there were a series of layers made up of burnt stones and charcoal-rich, silty clays, filling the remains of a stone-lined trough. The primary layers were composed of a thin, compact layer of very burnt stones that were well embedded into the natural. The subsoil showed clear evidence of having been in contact with very hot materials. The backfilled layers at the southern end were removed to reveal a series of post- and stake-holes at the base of the trough, which was shallower at this end. These features could easily have formed the basis of some kind of superstructure, and very little reconstruction is needed to see how such a structure could function as a sweathouse or shelter.
Some 2.7m south-west of this were found the remains of a shallow hearth, 0.9m long, 1.8m wide and 0.4m deep. To the north there was a small pit 0.27m long, 0.23m wide and 0.1m deep. No obvious use was discernible, although the backfill was made up of heat-shattered stone in dark grey to mid-brown silty sands. A series of root holes around these features had fills that also had a large burnt stone component.
The site was clearly the remains of a Bronze Age activity area. At present the date is dependent on its stratigraphic, morphological and locational similarities with other fulachta fiadh. Specialist reports are in progress. The expected mound had been removed by recent land clearance work.
For conclusions on this and the site at Corrovorrin, excavated under the same licence, please see the report on Corrovorrin, No. 67, Excavations 2000.
Editor’s note: The summary of this excavation, which was carried out during 1998, arrived too late for publication in the bulletin of that year.
Riveroaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly
