Fulachtai Fia | Ireland mysteries | Burnt Mounts | Unknown Mysteries

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• published: 09 Feb 2016
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Fulachtai Fia, Throughout the waterways and marshes of Ireland are found nearly 6,000 mysterious artifacts known as fulachtai fia, dating back to the Middle Bronze Age 1800 B.C., They are called “burnt mounds” in the UK, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man where they are also found, They commonly survive as a low horseshoe-shaped mound of charcoal-enriched soil and heat shattered stone with a slight depression at its centre showing the position of the pit and the depression large enough to park a car on. A trough is dug in the center, self-filling with water at certain times from either the water table or from springs found just beneath. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the majority of fulachtaí fiah were constructed during the mid to late Bronze Age 1500BC to. 500 BC , though some Neo lithic examples are known. However, some were still in use up to medieval times. They are the most common archaeological sites in Ireland, with over 4,500 recorded examples of which some 2,000 are found in County Cork. Permanent structures are rarely found near to fulachtaí fiah, but small hut sites are common and it is unknown whether early sites were built by permanent settlements or nomadic hunters. The fulachtai fia are usually found alone, but sometimes in groups of two to six and always near a water source. Evidence of heat-cracking around the stones indicates that there may have been hearths of some sort attached to the mounds. Many commentators suggest that the Irish word "fulacht" denotes a pit used for cooking. "Fiadh" in Old Irish meant something like "wild", often relating to animals such as deer. However, all commentators acknowledge significant difficulties in deriving a genuine etymology for the word "fulacht". As some historical references clearly use the term "fulacht" to describe a cooking spit, a close reading of these accounts suggests that the term actually derives from a word meaning support and probably carries a deliberate reference to the Irish words for blood and meat, They are also usually found far from settlements, meaning it would take some effort to get to them. In the field extant burnt mounds are noted as low grassy mounds which can be circular or crescent shaped. Size varies from sites which are only a few metres in diameter to those which can be upwards of thirty metres. The usual location of burnt mounds is close to a water source, such as a stream or lake, or simply in low-lying boggy ground. Due to the extensive agricultural activity which much of Ireland has seen, burnt mounds are often ploughed-out and leave no trace on the ground surface. In this case if the land is topsoil stripped the remains of the burnt mound will be seen as a shallow deposit of heat shattered stones which lie within a charcoal rich black soil. That’s about all we know about them for sure. People have proposed that they were used for cooking by hunting expeditions or perhaps for textile production. Others think they may be breweries or that they were used as saunas or sweathouses, but as of yet, no conclusive answers have been found. It’s possible that fulachtai fia had multiple uses, cooking, bathing, dyeing, or anything involving hot water.Other theories suggest that the sites may have been used for bathing, the washing and dyeing of cloth, and leather working. Supporters of these theories point to the fact that no remains of foodstuffs have been found at the fulacht fiadh sites A number of the fulachtaí fiadh pits are approximately a metre wide by 2 metres long and maybe half a metre or more in depth. However, size can vary a great deal from site to site, from rather small pits lined with stones to pools conceivably large enough for people to bathe in. The Ballyvourney reconstruction also included successful attempts at heating the water and cooking meat in this manner ,later they discovered that its used to make drinkable light ale. What is clear is that large quantities of hot or boiling water were produced and the sites often had long periods of use as attested by the large mounds of stone. The absence of animal bone does not preclude cooking activities as carcasses may have been prepared elsewhere and brought to the site and, once the meat was cooked it may have been taken elsewhere to be eaten. The damp soil conditions associated with burnt mounds do not generally favour the preservation of animal bone, the occurrence of troughs and deposits of burnt stone, burnt mounds have another common characteristic – the use of certain types of stone. In general sedimentary rocks such as sandstone are very common and experiments have shown that sandstone can be heated and cooled around five times before splitting into unusable fragments.Reconstruction of a burnt mound being used as a sweat house.