2004:0766 - KILMANIHEEN WEST (Site AR04), Kerry
County: Kerry
Site name: KILMANIHEEN WEST (Site AR04)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: 04E0974
Author: Kate Taylor, TVAS Ireland Ltd.
Author/Organisation Address: Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 508467m, N 622209m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.343838, -9.343372
A small fulacht fiadh was represented by a low mound of burnt stone around an oval trough on the N21 Castleisland–Abbeyfeale road improvement scheme. The crescent-shaped mound was made from mainly heat-shattered sandstone, measured 5.9m by 3.95m and was up to 0.3m thick. The unlined trough measured 1.7m by 1.15m and survived to a depth of 0.32m. The main fill of the trough was large sandstone pieces and these may indicate the last use of the monument.
A small circular pit, possibly an earlier trough, was also excavated beneath the stone deposit. The pit measured 0.85m by 0.8m and was 0.38m deep with steep sides and a concave base.
A sequence of peat and alluvium layers filled the top of the trough and overlay the burnt stone. These layers probably formed naturally following the abandonment of the burnt mound.