2005:916 - SHANBOE (4), Laois

Testing was carried out before the construction of the M7 Portlaoise–Castletown/M8 Portlaoise–Cullahill motorway scheme. In March 2005, during centre-line testing of Contract 2, Testing Area 14, carried out by Linda Clarke (see No. 912, Excavations 2005), the truncated remains of two burnt-stone spreads were identified in Field 478 (Plot 117). The site was designated Shanboe 4 and was excavated between 3 and 10 October. An area measuring 25m by 20m was stripped of topsoil by mechanical excavator to a depth of c. 0.4m.

The largest element on the site was a spread of friable black clay containing frequent burnt-stone fragments, measuring 6m (east–west) by 2.5m and up to 0.15m deep (F4); a layer of pale grey sand was stratified below the spread. There were two much smaller burnt-stone deposits east of the F4 spread: F9, measuring 1.5m by 1m and 0.12m deep, and F10, measuring 2m by 2m and 0.17m deep. A single negative feature measured 1.55m (east–west) by 0.95m and 0.45m deep. The lower fill comprised soft grey/brown organic clay with occasional burnt sandstone and charcoal. The site appears to represent the heavily truncated remains of an ancient cooking site, or fulacht fiadh. There was no evidence for a trough, but this may have been destroyed when the existing northern boundary of the field, adjacent to the material, was established.