2006:1103 - Aghmacart 1, Laois

An excavation was carried out in response to an assessment, in advance of the proposed M7 Portlaoise to Castletown/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill motorway scheme, in March 2006. The work was carried out on behalf of Laois County Council and the National Roads Authority.
This site was identified as the remains of a fulacht fiadh following the assessment of Testing Area 10. Contract 1 of the project incorporated the Portlaoise to Cullahill section of the scheme, consisting of c. 14km of motorway that extends from Aghaboe to south of Cullahill through the townlands from Gortnaclea to Oldtown. Aghmacart 1 was located on a gentle slope of the east bank of a stream.
Topsoil-stripping on this site revealed three burnt mounds and charcoal deposits, which lay on the higher ground surrounded by palaeochannels. No troughs were found.
One of the burnt mounds (3.5m by 2.75m by 0.08m) was irregular in shape. It consisted of compact black silty clay and contained frequent small angular fire-cracked stones. To the south lay a disturbed oval/irregular deposit of burnt-mound deposit. A further small deposit of charcoal lay to the west.
A second burnt mound (3.25m by 2.85m by 0.1m) of compact black charcoal-rich deposit contained frequent small burnt sandstone and small limestone. To the south the stones were unburnt and possibly represented a deposit of unused stones.
The third burnt-mound deposit (3.65m by 2.25m by 0.08m) was a compact brown/black charcoal-rich deposit containing frequent stones. A round deposit of limestone (1.1m in diameter and 0.2m in depth) lay beside the burnt mound. It was a deposit of unused limestone.
A further deposit of heat-affected stones and charcoal (4.5m by length by 3m by 0.05m) lay to the north. It consisted of moderately sorted black/grey silty sand and heat-affected sandstone and limestone with charcoal inclusions.
All of the samples from this site have yet to be analysed.