Fulacht fia, Barr An Tseanchnoic, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Settlement Sites
In the marshy ground beside a stream at Barr An Tseanchnoic, a low, heavily overgrown mound sits quietly in the landscape, and almost nothing about it announces what it once was.
It is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in considerable numbers across Ireland, typically identified by the crescent or horseshoe-shaped mound of fire-cracked stone and charred material that accumulates beside a trough. The usual interpretation is that stones were heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled pit to bring it to the boil, a process repeated until enough heat was generated for cooking. The mound is the discard heap left behind after generations of this activity.
This particular example measures roughly 1.5 metres in height and between 3.6 and 3.9 metres in length, dimensions recorded from local information rather than formal excavation. It sits on the eastern side of a stream, which is entirely typical. Fulachtaí fia are almost always found close to a reliable water source, and low-lying or marshy ground is a consistent feature of the type. Most date to the Bronze Age, broadly spanning from around 2000 to 500 BC, though some have produced earlier or later dates. Without excavation, this one cannot be placed more precisely within that long span. What is clear is that the mound survives, overgrown but intact, in much the same marshy corner it has occupied for millennia.