County: Wicklow Site name: Ballynagran landfill, Coolbeg
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0552 ext
Author: William O. Frazer, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Fulacht fiadh/burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 727023m, N 691185m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.956393, -6.109474
Previous monitoring of soil-stripping in advance of construction had identified archaeology at Area 11 (Excavations 2006, No. 2171). The area was excavated in June 2007.
Area 11 was a fulacht fiadh site, some 25m by 25m, that included a low burnt mound, two troughs (both with evidence of timber lining) and nine peripheral possible hearths. There was also evidence for water management nearby to the troughs, and several series of stake-holes suggested a number of small timber structures including a possible third above-ground trough and wattle fencing. A limited number of flint artefacts were recovered at Area 11, along with a fragment from a burnt oak acorn cupule. On the basis of radiocarbon dates, activity on the site occurred between 2140–1940 bc (95.4% probability) and 1880–1680 bc (two dates, each 95.4% probability), perhaps focused in the 20th and 19th centuries bc. This is a date consistent with previous evidence for Early Bronze Age use of fulachta fiadh across the 24ha development.
