Fulacht fia, Knockognoe, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
In a field at Knockognoe, not far from Castleisland in County Kerry, a low crescent of blackened earth and fire-cracked stone sits in the landscape, barely knee-height at its tallest point.
It is easy to overlook, and that is precisely what makes it worth knowing about. This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in enormous numbers across Ireland, typically dating from the Bronze Age. The characteristic horseshoe shape comes from the accumulated spoil of repeated use: water was heated in a trough by dropping fire-heated stones into it, and those stones, once spent and shattered by thermal shock, were raked out and piled to either side, gradually forming the mounded arc that survives today.
When the Castleisland District Archaeological Survey recorded this example in 1985, the mound measured roughly six metres by ten and a half metres, with a maximum height of around thirty-five centimetres. The opening faced south-east, consistent with the trough having once sat at that end of the hollow. The scorched, dark soil and the reddened, fractured stone are the direct residue of whatever heating activity took place here, possibly cooking, possibly bathing or hide-working, though the precise function of fulachta fiadh has been debated for decades. What is not in doubt is the sheer quantity of human labour the site represents, and the fact that someone returned to this spot, again and again, over what may have been a long period.