County: Louth Site name: DUNGOOLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0879
Author: Cia McConway
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 701101m, N 814712m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.071601, -6.455261
The site was discovered during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the route of the proposed south–north gas pipeline to be constructed by Bord Gáis Éireann. The site was located in Field 5 at Road Crossing 47 in the townland of Dungooly, north-west of Dundalk, just south of the border between counties Louth and Armagh. The site was identified during the monitoring phase as an area of black heavily charcoal-flecked soil and heat-fractured stone. The site was at the bottom of a north-facing slope beside an unnamed small stream, a tributary to the Kilcurry River. The excavation of the site took place on 8–18 August 2006, during which time the features were fully investigated.
The excavated features consisted of the flattened remains of a burnt mound or fulacht fiadh with an associated trough beneath. The burnt mound extended 8m north–south by 4m. An area of 12m by 8m was manually cleaned back. Beneath the south-east end of the spread, a trough was discovered. It was roughly rectangular in plan, measured 1.7m east–west by 1.28m and was 0.59m deep. Two pieces of worked flint came from the trough, along with one piece of worked wood, a possible stake.
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