County: Waterford Site name: CARRIGANARD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1176
Author: Linda Hegarty, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 658865m, N 609393m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.233129, -7.138234
An excavation was carried out at Carriganard in response to earlier testing (No. 1864, Excavations 2003). Excavation commenced in October for a period of five weeks, during which time a fulacht fiadh and associated features were excavated. The fulacht measured 17m north-south by 24m and 1.1m in depth.
The earliest deposits comprised a shallow trough, associated mound material and an irregular pit. The brownish-grey stony mound material measured 0.2–0.3m in depth and spanned the south-eastern half of the mound with a small area situated in the north-west. This material overlay an oval-shaped shallow trough measuring 1m north-east/south-west by 0.8m. The trough had gentle sloping sides with an almost flat base. An irregular shallow pit associated with this phase was situated c. 2m east of this trough.
The second phase consisted of an overlying mound of black stony material with frequent heat-shattered stones and charcoal. Five troughs (two oval, two circular and one rectangular) and two pits were identified under this black material.
The last phase of activity was a rectangular trough. This cut into the two earlier phases. It contained three fills. An axe-shaped smooth stone and a piece of struck flint were retrieved from this fill. Towards the surface and against the primary fill were a number of large stones positioned in an attempt to line the trough. The sides were difficult to determine, due to the loose nature of the material it cut.
There were four other shallow spreads of fulacht material situated within 20m south of the main mound. These spreads averaged 5m in width and 0.15m in depth. Two features were identified 360m north of the mound. One had been discovered during testing. The environmental analysis from the samples taken during testing identified fragments of carbonised hazelnut shell, cereal grains which included hulled and naked barley and occasional grains of emmer wheat, along with charcoal.
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