2002:0715 - BRACKERNAGH, Galway

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Galway Site name: BRACKERNAGH

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1190

Author: Billy Quinn, Moore Ltd.

Site type: Fulacht fia

Period/Dating: Undetermined

ITM: E 579576m, N 730917m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.328119, -8.306583

The fulacht fiadh was identified on 7 July 2002, along a freshly stripped section of Section 2 of the Pipeline to the West. The site was near the base of a gentle slope beside a narrow stream On first exposure the site appeared as an irregular horseshoe-shaped hummock of dark brown, sandy silt with frequent inclusions of heat-shattered stone.

Excavation exposed a centrally located cut below the burnt-mound material. The cut was rectangular, measuring 2.4m north-west/south-east by 1.4m, and was dug to a maximum depth of 0.5m. Operating at full capacity, the trough could hold c. 1680 litres of water.

The cut had almost vertical sides that broke sharply to an even base and was lined with a thin layer of yellow sandy clay, 0.02–0.08m thick.

Four stake-holes were found at each corner of the trough, all vertically inclined. The stake-holes were circular, with an average diameter of 0.1m and an average depth of 0.15m. They were filled with a loose grey/brown clay. Presumably the original stakes were used to support a timber trough that lined the cut.

At the north-western end of the trough was a subrectangular platform, 1.4m long and 0.9m wide, with a step, 0.2m high, down to the trough.

The trough was backfilled with two deposits. A loose black layer of charcoal-enriched coarse sand, 0.4m thick, that contained occasional small, angular stones was spread evenly throughout the base of the trough. The upper fill was a mid- to dark brown, moderately compact, sandy silt with heat-shattered stones and sub-round pebbles.

The overlying burnt-mound material was horseshoe shaped and measured 11.6m north-west/south-east by 10.4m. The mound was quite shallow and varied from 0.1m deep at its edge to a maximum of 0.2m deep internally. The mound material consisted of black/brown silt with frequent inclusions of heat-shattered stones and charcoal flecks.

The only finds recovered were two cow teeth from the burnt mound and a heavily corroded metal object from the topsoil.

Unit 6, Riveroaks, Claregalway, Co. Galway