These sites, also known as fulacht fiadh in Irish, typically consist of heat-shattered stones, charcoal, and darkened soil; the remnants of hot stone technology used thousands of years ago. Whilst the exact purpose of burnt spreads remains debated amongst archaeologists, they’re generally thought to represent outdoor cooking sites where heated stones were used to boil water in wooden troughs or pits, possibly for cooking meat, brewing, or even bathing.

Sites like these offer tangible connections to Ireland’s Bronze Age inhabitants, who left few written records but plenty of physical evidence of their daily lives. The burnt spreads found scattered across the Irish countryside, including this one at Carnashannagh, remind us that even the most mundane activities; preparing food, gathering around a fire, sharing a meal; link us directly to our ancestors who stood on the same ground millennia ago.