County: Mayo Site name: CLOONBULBAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0681
Author: Bernard Guinan
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 543487m, N 777852m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.747237, -8.856775
During the monitoring of topsoil removal as part of the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme Stage III (see No. 918, Excavations 2001, 01E0314), two areas of burnt sandstone were noted at the edge of a zone of deep peat in Cloonbulban, Co Mayo. The first of these (Site A) was an irregular deposit of burnt stone, 11m east–west by 9m. The second site (Site B) was a much smaller deposit, 4m north–south by 2m, c. 25m from Site A. Excavation took place in August and September 2001.
Site A
Site A was bounded to the east by a field drain and to the south by a small stream. The surviving mound was irregular, measuring only 0.16m deep. The site was severely disturbed by field drains and agricultural activity. Heat-shattered sandstone within a compact, dark charcoal matrix was concentrated at the centre of the surviving mound. The mound was divided by a field drain. Around the perimeter of the mound, a lower concentration of heat-fractured stone was set within a brown peat matrix with very little charcoal. The burnt stone overlay a thin layer of peat, 0.02–0.06m deep, above a natural grey compacted boulder clay. Two boiling-pits were found.
Boiling-pit I, c. 1.1m wide and 0.42m deep, contained peat above a fill of burnt stone in a charcoal matrix 0.02–0.18m deep. A basal layer of fine sand, the sorted fine residue of heat-shattered sandstone, lined the bottom of the pit. Pressed into the uppermost level of this sandy deposit was the residue of very degraded and possibly wooden remains, running roughly north–south. At this stage it is not possible to say whether these ethereal remains are structural or natural.
An enigmatic gully-like feature running north-west/south-east cut the upper north-western edge of the boiling-pit. The purpose of this gully may be related in some way to the function of the boiling-pit. A second gully was found cut into the edge of boiling-pit II.
The second boiling-pit, c. 3.5m east of boiling-pit I, was disturbed by a field drain, leaving only its base intact. It was circular, c. 1.1m in diameter and 0.23m deep.
Site B
Site B was a smaller, thin deposit of burnt sandstone (0.02–0.06m deep), 4m north–south by 2m. It rested directly on a raised area of natural compacted boulder clay. Some modern disturbance was evidenced by two shallow cultivation furrows. A boiling-pit was found cut into the boulder clay. The fill consisted mainly of peat (0.16m deep) resting on a deposit of large heat-fractured sandstone. Natural slump, c. 0.13m deep, marked the original cut and base of the pit. The excavated pit was steep-sided, flat-bottomed and subcircular in plan, with a diameter of c. 1.1m and a maximum depth of 0.44m.
Finds included struck chert débitage and a number of possible scrapers.
Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
