County: Roscommon Site name: CURRINAH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 11E0231
Author: Shane Delaney
Site type: Fulacht fiadh and burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 557489m, N 798788m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.936527, -8.646753
Two sites, Currinah 5a and 5b, identified during testing by Tom Janes (Excavations 2010, no. 577, 10E0298) in advance of the N5 Ballaghaderreen Bypass were excavated in July 2011. Currinah 5a and 5b were located at c. 110m OD in the townland of Currinah, c. 5km north-west of Ballaghaderreen. The surrounding topography comprises undulating bogland drained by small watercourses.
Currinah 5a was a small deposit of heat-shattered stone. Currinah 5b was a fulacht fiadh/burnt mound site, consisting of a mound of heat-shattered stone sealing a stone-lined trough. The original trough was timber-lined with oak (Quercus sp.) planks, which have been dated to the Early Bronze Age, 2026–1887 cal. BC (2 sigma). The trough was remodelled and reflects long use, or possibly reuse of the site at a later date. Hazel (Corylus avellana) charcoal was identified from the fill of the remodelled trough and produced a Late Bronze Age date of 1253–1027 cal. BC (2 sigma).
The site was located in an area where a cluster of other fulachta fiadh (Currinah 1, 2 and 4; Excavations 2006, nos 1726 and 1727, E3355 and E3356) were identified by Agnes Kerrigan (Mayo County Council) during work on the N5 Charlestown Bypass in 2006.
Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
