2007:1820 - Killure, Waterford

The excavation of two areas of burnt material was conducted from 23 July to 31 August. Both areas had been identified through testing (No. 1832 below, 07E0347) ahead of the R708 airport road realignment scheme. Subsequently, geophysical survey was also conducted (07R3).
Area 1 contained three burnt spreads. The first of these, in the south-west of the trench, was a ‘classic’ horseshoe-shaped mound, 10m by 10m. The material forming the mound was separated into three contexts, primarily due to deformation processes. A subrectangular trough, 2.6m by 2m by 0.72m, had not been filled by burnt material but instead clays and peat had formed. The remains of a stake were found in each of the corners at the base and fragmentary remains of wattle were visible compressed into the sides.
A second spread of burnt material was found in the centre of the trench, where it had been almost entirely masked by fluvial clay. This amounted to a spread, 5m by 4m, with a maximum depth of 0.4m where it filled a small irregular pit cut.
In the north-east of Area 1, the third burnt spread had been cut by a drain. The northern portion of the burnt spread sloped down into a natural depression and had been covered by fluvial clay. The burnt spread had been substantially eroded but what remained within the trench measured 15m by 10m. This fulacht could be seen to survive as a mound to the east, beyond the limit of excavation. Along the eastern limit of the trench, an alignment of three troughs was found. All were rectangular in plan. Three sides of the northernmost trough were exposed (1.5m by 0.9m by 0.9m) and these were steep, leading to a flat base. The basal fill was an organic peat. The southernmost trough (1.9m by 1.2m by 0.68m) also had steep sides. A single stake-hole was identified in the north-western corner of the base. The middle trough truncated the previous two, and the full width was not exposed within the trench (2.5m by 0.7m by 0.7m). The western side was steep but the other visible sides were gradual. A single stake-hole was found in the north-west corner and three further stake-holes were found along the southern edge of the base. These were almost certainly used to revet the fill within the southern trough. A fourth trough was encountered at the western edge of the burnt spread. This rectangular trough was shallow and the eastern and northern sides had been eroded (1.6m by 1.5m by 0.13m). The remains of timber linings were found to cover the base. These comprised seven long planks (four of which were fragmentary) with two perpendicular cross-pieces or braces at the north and south ends.
Area 2 contained a single burnt spread situated on the east of a stream. The burnt spread measured 10m by 9.5m with an average depth of 0.2m. The western part of the spread was not fully exposed as it extended beyond the limit of excavation. It was at this western limit that a shallow subrectangular trough (2.58m by 1.68m by 0.22m) was located and several very poorly preserved fragments of wood were noticed along the sides. On the outside of the south-eastern and north-eastern corners, two hollows were recognised and these contained three stake-holes and a single stake-hole respectively.
Another burnt mound was identified on land to the west of Area 2 (261905 107357) and indicates that the fulachta fiadh excavated were not isolated examples. The variety of trough morphology highlights a number of interesting possibilities regarding function. However, there were no hearths found. No artefacts were recovered but all archaeological soils have been sampled. Where timber remains were found they were sampled in their entirety and are currently undergoing further examination.