Fulacht fia, Ballycummin, Co. Limerick

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Settlement Sites

Fulacht fia, Ballycummin, Co. Limerick

Road-building projects have a way of turning up things nobody expected, and the construction of a dual carriageway for the Dell Factory Development in County Limerick proved no exception.

What emerged during archaeological monitoring was not one prehistoric cooking site but six, clustered together at Ballycummin in a way that suggests this particular patch of ground was returned to, again and again, over what may have been a considerable span of time.

The site in question, recorded as fulacht fia 3 or Site C within the group, was excavated by Noel Dunne under licence 98E0433, with results published in 2000. A fulacht fia, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a type of prehistoric burnt mound, typically formed around a trough into which water was poured and heated stones were dropped to bring the liquid to a boil, most likely for cooking. They are among the most commonly found prehistoric monuments in Ireland, though their exact range of uses is still debated by archaeologists. At Ballycummin, Dunne identified three separate burnt spreads at Site C, measuring 11 metres by 4.5 metres, 10 metres by 3 metres, and 5.5 metres by 4 metres respectively. Two large pits were associated with one of the spreads, though one of these pits is considered likely to be modern rather than prehistoric in origin. The site forms part of a group of six fulachtaí fia registered together under the record numbers LI013-229 through LI013-234.

Because this site was uncovered during development monitoring rather than through a planned research excavation, it is not a place with a visitor pathway or interpretive signage. The ground has long since been built over as part of the wider Dell Factory Development area on the outskirts of Limerick city. What remains accessible is the documentary record, including the excavation summary published on excavations.ie (1999, No. 483), which gives the clearest picture of what was found. For anyone interested in the archaeology of the region, the significance here lies less in what can be seen on the ground today and more in what the cluster of six sites implies: repeated prehistoric activity in one locale, now lying beneath carriageway and development, quietly logged in the national record.

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