County: Kerry Site name: BALLYNAHOULORT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E1292 EXT.
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.
Site type: Fulachta fiadh/burnt spreads
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 482481m, N 616781m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.290124, -9.722682
Three spreads of burnt and fire-cracked stone, indicative of fulachta fiadh, were identified during earlier test-trenching and monitoring at sites in Ballynahoulort townland on the Tralee western link road (see No. 666 above).
Burnt Spread 1 was a loose, friable, irregularly shaped spread of burnt material primarily composed of black silty clay found in a subcircular cut. This deposit contained frequent amounts of small angular burnt stones (on average 0.03–0.07m in diameter) and small flecks of charcoal. It extended about 3.6m in maximum east–west length by 1.2m (max.) and reached a maximum thickness of 0.3m. This spread of material covered a series of small pits or troughs.
Burnt Spread 2, circular in plan, was composed of a loose, greyish-brown clay layer found in a small depression in the boulder clay. It contained frequent amounts of small angular burnt stones (on average 0.05–0.07m in diameter) and occasional amounts of small charcoal flecks. It extended about 1.5m in maximum north–south length by 1.3m and reached a maximum thickness of 0.08m.
Burnt Spread 3 was composed of a moderately compacted brownish-black silty clay that was located on top of, and on the side of, a low but steep descending gradient, which may have corresponded with the edge of an ancient water-filled depression or pool. This material, containing burnt and fire-cracked stone, appears to have been dumped over the edge of the depression. It contained moderate amounts of small charcoal flecks. It measured about 2.8m (max.) east–west in length by 1.8m and reached a maximum thickness of 0.25–0.3m.
These sites do not conform to the diagnostic view of fulachta fiadh. Site 1 was effectively a series of pits or troughs filled with fire-cracked stone. It is possible that Site 2 was levelled and disturbed through land reclamation and cultivation. Burnt Spread 3 contained material typically found in fulachta fiadh but it also lay above banded stratigraphy, which may have been naturally formed by a body of water. Samples of charcoal were retrieved from the sites, which should provide radiocarbon dates and thus give a clearer idea as to their function.
