County: Cork Site name: DROMVANE 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0637
Author: Redmond Tobin, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 540099m, N 555732m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.750719, -8.867542
The site was identified as one major spread of burned material, and there was evidence of a further spread 1.7m to the west, projecting slightly from the south onto the pipeline corridor of the Ballincollig–Ballineen gas pipeline.
The major site, a fulacht fiadh, lies on a south-south-east-facing slope in pastureland. The burnt material extends 6.05m north–south by 10.2m. The edge of the burned material was emphasised by a layer of ash extending from under it. Distinct features appeared through the burned material. One was an area of burned clay in the centre of the spread. A further subcircular spread of grey/white clay was noted on the south-west side of the spread. The area of burned clay at the centre of the spread coupled with the feature to the south-west gave the burned material a slightly horseshoe/kidney-shaped plan, with the ‘horns’ of the mound facing to the south-west.
The feature central to the spread is rather distinctive in that it appears to have been cut through the burnt mound material into the subsoil. When fully excavated it appeared as a subrectangular pit 1.73m by 2.17m with an overall depth of 0.5m. The basal layer contained a high density of charcoal. The main fill was grey silt, which, in section, had settled with an obtuse V-profile. The greyish/white clay projected above the level of the burnt material. The cut of this pit on the south side showed some evidence for a stone lining.
The feature to the south-western extremity of the mound, when fully excavated, appeared as subcircular in plan, measuring 2.04m east–west by 1.54m, to a maximum depth of 0.91m. This feature, when half-sectioned, showed a relatively steep-sided V-profile. In the section, a deposit of iron pan showed in the base, projecting down into the base of the feature in a steep-sided cut.
Again, the principal fill of this feature was the grey silt, which had settled in the cut leaving a slight depression, again ‘plugged’ by the greyish/white clay. This feature may be another trough as the fill is similar to that accumulated in the central feature.
These possible troughs were the principal features of the fulacht fiadh. While other possible features were examined, most were dismissed as being naturally occurring or of recent origin. These will be examined more fully in the detailed report.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
