County: Clare Site name: CAHIRACON (BGE 3/37/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1150
Author: Kate Taylor, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 522437m, N 654935m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.640080, -9.146009
This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. A spread of burnt stone was identified during monitoring by Ken Wiggins of topsoil-stripping in an area of bogland (see No. 64, Excavations 2002, 02E0119). The spread, which consisted of heat-cracked stones and charcoal flecks in a matrix of white clay, was amorphous in shape with maximum dimensions of 4m by 5.5m.
Unfortunately, despite being marked off according to the agreed protocols, the site was destroyed by pipeline construction before archaeological excavation took place.
The evidence of observations made before the intended excavation suggests that the deposits were the remains of a burnt spread or fulacht fiadh. A large number of archaeological sites were excavated in the vicinity during this project, and it appears that this site was one element of a well-preserved prehistoric landscape.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
