Fulacht fiadh facts for kids
A fulacht fiadh (say "FOO-lokht FEE-uh") is the name for ancient cooking sites found mostly in Ireland. These sites date back to the Bronze Age, which was a very long time ago (around 1500 to 500 BC). You can also find similar sites in Great Britain, where they are called "burnt mounds," and even in Sweden.
Most fulachtaí fiadh (that's the plural) look like a low, horseshoe-shaped pile of dirt mixed with charcoal and broken, heat-cracked stones. In the middle, there's usually a small dip or pit where the cooking happened. If you see them in a field that's been ploughed, they might just look like dark patches of earth with small, sharp stones scattered around.
While most of these sites are from the Bronze Age, some older ones from the Neolithic period (even earlier!) and a few from the medieval times have also been found. It's rare to find permanent homes right next to fulachtaí fiadh, but small hut sites are common. This makes experts wonder if they were used by people who lived in one place or by hunters who moved around a lot.
Contents
What Does "Fulacht Fiadh" Mean?
Many experts believe the Irish word "fulacht" means a cooking pit. In modern Irish, it's even a word for a barbecue! The word "fiadh" in Old Irish meant something "wild," often referring to wild animals like deer.
So, "fulacht fiadh" could mean something like "wild cooking pit" or "deer cooking pit." However, it's a bit tricky to be totally sure about the exact meaning of "fulacht." Some old writings suggest "fulacht" might have meant a support for cooking, and it could also be linked to the Irish words for blood (fuil) and meat (feoil).
Where Were They Built?
Fulachtaí fiadh were almost always built close to water. This could be a spring, a river, a stream, or even just wet, marshy ground. They also needed to be near places where they could easily find suitable stones, as these were important for heating.
Another key thing they needed was fuel, so they were usually close to woodlands where people could gather wood for fires. And, of course, they had to be near whatever was going to be cooked or processed in the hot water.
Once all these conditions were met, a fulacht fiadh could be built. People often continued to use the same areas over time, so you'll often find fulachtaí fiadh in groups, spread out along rivers or streams.
How Were They Built?
A typical fulacht fiadh had three main parts:
- A mound of stones: These were the stones that had been heated in a fire and then cracked from being put into water.
- A hearth: This was the fireplace used to heat the stones.
- A trough: This was a pit, often lined with wood or stones, that was filled with water. The hot stones were then dropped into this trough to heat the water.
The troughs were usually dug into the ground, or sometimes into solid rock. Some sites might also have had stone walls, small buildings, or even more than one hearth and extra smaller pits. They are almost always found near running water or in boggy areas where a hole dug in the ground would quickly fill with water.
The pits themselves varied in size. Many were about one meter wide, two meters long, and half a meter deep. But some were quite small, while others were large enough that people might have even bathed in them!
What Were They Used For?
The most popular idea is that fulachtaí fiadh were used for cooking. People would fill the pits with water, heat stones in a fire, and then drop the hot stones into the water. This would make the water boil, and then meat could be cooked in it. When archaeologists dig up these sites, they often find burnt, scorched, and broken rocks, which supports this idea. Experiments, like one done at Ballyvourney, have successfully shown that you can heat water and cook meat this way.
However, there are other ideas too:
- Bathing: Some think the sites might have been used for bathing, like ancient hot tubs.
- Washing and dyeing cloth: The hot water could have been used to clean or color fabrics.
- Leather working: Hot water is also useful in preparing animal hides to make leather.
People who support these ideas point out that no food remains have been found at many fulacht fiadh sites. Some researchers believe that fulachtaí fiadh might have been used for many different things – cooking, bathing, dyeing, or anything else that needed hot water.
Some fulacht fiadh reconstructions, like the one at Ballyvourney, include circular hut-like buildings. These are based on post holes found at the sites. Some think these small buildings were used for storing or preparing food. Another idea is that they were like sweat-houses, similar to the old Gaelic Tigh 'n Alluis (stone sweat-houses). But this idea is less likely because the hot water trough was usually outside the building, if a building was even there at all.
In 2007, two archaeologists from Galway suggested that fulachtaí fiadh were mainly used for brewing beer! They tried an experiment: they filled a large wooden trough with water and added heated stones. Once the water was about 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit), they added barley. After 45 minutes, they moved the mixture to other containers to ferment, adding wild plant flavors and yeast. A few days later, they found they had made a drinkable light ale! This way of brewing with hot stones is also known from Norway.
