County: Limerick Site name: Raheen Business Park, Ballycummin, Limerick
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LI013-233 Licence number: 18E0278 ext.
Author: Ed Lyne, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit
Site type: Fulacht fiadh and possible well
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 555171m, N 652169m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.618908, -8.662032
A programme of archaeological monitoring and excavation was carried out at Ballycummin, Raheen Business Park, County Limerick. The site contained LI013-233 - Fulacht fiadh, identified under licence 98E0433 by Noel Dunne during a program of archaeological monitoring in 1998-1999.
The excavation took place in May 2019. The site comprised a small fulacht fiadh site in the form of a shallow spread (C3), a possible well (C4) and a shallow pit (C6). These required preservation by record (excavation) as preservation in situ was not feasible.
A number of fulachta fiadh have been excavated in the area around Ballycummin in the past 20 years, mainly as a result of development associated with the Raheen Business Park. Their frequency locally suggests Bronze Age settlement in the area, as well as a plentiful supply of firewood and a water source. The latter in this case may simply have been as a result of the area being somewhat low lying and perhaps something of a wetland environment during this period.
The primary charcoal fill from the possible well (C4) was sampled and Dr Lorna O’Donnell identified the charcoal as alder. A sample of alder charcoal was chosen for 14C AMS analysis, to obtain a date for the pit/well. The sample analysed returned a date of 3110 ± 30 BP (cal. BC 1440-1280, 2-sigma), placing the site in the Middle Bronze Age, the most typical date range for this site type.
The archaeological features identified during the investigation at the site in Ballycummin have now been fully excavated.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth.
