2021:532 - Rathmore Road, Lusk, Dublin

Two cuttings, on either side of the Rathmore Road, Lusk, Co. Dublin, were excavated on 14–30 April 2021. The cuttings were established following pre-development test excavations under licence 21E0041. The excavation in each cutting revealed the remains of a burnt mound/fulacht fiadh, sites that use heated stone to heat/boil water in pits/troughs for one or a variety of industrial, domestic or ritual purposes.
No surface mound survived in Cutting 1 though the typical burnt mound material containing heat-affected stone in a charcoal-rich soil filled the subsoil-cut features. There was some charcoal staining and trace amounts of cracked stone on the surface surrounding the subsoil-cut features and extensive truncation of the archaeological deposits by modern drains etc. The deepest pit in the Cutting became inundated during excavation and may have functioned as a well. The site contained other pits of varying size and shape, some of which may have been used as troughs. No evidence for lining of pits or any waterlogged deposits survived. No animal bone or artefacts were retrieved though a charred indeterminate cereal grain and grass seed were identified suggesting nearby cultivation. A range of charcoal comprising alder, ash, hazel, and pomoideae were identified from the bulk soil samples and are thought likely to represent fuelwood for the site. A fragment of charcoal from the basal fill of the deep pit/well returned a radiocarbon date of 2030-1770 cal. BC 2δ (UBA 45935; 3571 +/- 37 BP) placing activity in the Early Bronze Age period.
Cutting 2 lay c. 80m to the east. Again, no substantial mound deposit survived. A silted-up natural pool or spring lay to the north-west and contained some trace amounts of burnt mound material along its margin. Several modern drains truncated the area. The remaining features comprised two relatively isolated small pits to the west and a cluster of other pits of varying size in the central and south-eastern part of the cutting, all filled with typical burnt mound material. Again, no waterlogged deposits or animal bone survived and only a single artefact, a small flint flake, potentially knapped, was retrieved from the basal fill of a pit. The range of charcoal identified comprised pomoideae, hazel, prunus, ash, and alder, again representing fuelwood. A fragment of charcoal from the fill of a pit most likely to have been a trough returned a radiocarbon date of 2460-2200 cal. BC 2δ (UBA 45936; 3865 +/- 29 BP) placing activity here in the Chalcolithic or Beaker period.

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