Burnt Mounds and Food Processing; Lecture given to the NRA 2009 Seminar

Food processing and manufacturing at burnt mounds: What do the archaeological features reveal? Finn Delaney & John Tierney NRA Seminar 2009 Theme: Creative Minds: production, manufacturing and invention in ancient Ireland

This presentation will examine the features and artefacts found on a number of burnt mounds excavated by Eachtra on a series of road projects over the last decade.
In particular, posthole structures and interconnected pits will be examined.
The evidence will be considered in the light of the hypothesis that burnt mounds were predominantly used for animal slaughter, butchery and processing of meat/blood/fat.
This is only one of a number of potential hypotheses.
Abstract

Timeline & Geography
What is a burnt mound?
Testing an hypothesis in 3 parts
Significance of surplus
Conclusions
Outline

Prehistoric & Historic Periods
Mesolithic Period 8000-4000 BC
Neolithic Period 4000-2000 BC
Bronze Age Period 2500-500 BC
Iron Age Period 500 BC -500 AD
Early Christian Period or Early Medieval Period 500 AD -1000 AD
Medieval Period 1000 – 1500 AD

What is a burnt mound?

Hardwood and softwood mixed with beach stones

Mound formation in advance of boiling

Immediate boiling and evaporation

Key observations
The ‘hearth’ made the mound – they were not separate
The trough needed to be constantly filled with water
Water and fuel were the scarcest resources (stone is recycled)
The boiling water was spoiled by stone grit and charcoal – sieving probably needed if not going to spoil food products

Hypothesis

Moore Group (www.mooregroup.ie) Great Beer Experiment

Test 1 Artefacts

Test 2 Faunal Remains

Test 3 Archaeological features

FEATURES
Mound/Layers Heat Shattered stone
Trough Pits (boiling pits?)
Circular Pits – Deep and shallow
Interconnecting Pits
Stakeholes – Internal / External
Postholes
Associated Structures
Hearths
Wells / Springs
Ecofacts/Artefacts

Ahanaglogh N25 Kilmacthomas John Tierney & Aine Richardson

Cutting stone? Working surface? Edge of trough pit Boiling grit lines

Clashnevin1 N7CN Jo Ronayne

Receding groundwater within the well

Park 2 N7CN John Tierney & Nick Garland Postholes Well Trough 1 Trough 2

Park 2 N7CN John Tierney & Nick Garland

Ballyglass West N18OG Agnes Kerrigan

Ballynamona 2 Linda Hegarty N8FM Trough 1 Trough 2 Hearth Structure?

Greenhills N7CN Jacinta Kiely & Josh Cronin

FUNCTION
Troughs
Boiling of large quantities of water for butchery, food preparation (incl hide preparation) and food processing
Other uses
Small pits
Hot stone boiling of smaller quantities of water for varied uses
Washing/Sieving
Blood product processing?
Plant product processing?
Holding containers (basket/leather/clay) for curing/storing
Roasting pits?
Posthole and stakehole structures/furniture
Tripods?
Drying Racks
Windbreaks
Hearths
Stone roasting
Hide roasting
Meat Roasting

Our job is to convert these sites into Places
Varied domestic functions
We should be using these ‘sites’ to study Bronze Age communities
CONCLUSIONS

Stocking the winter larder?
While burnt mounds were probably put to a range of uses we must not ignore the possibility that there may have been one predominant use.
Surplus production
Production of food products for social storage or feasting
Storage (in fat, salting, dry cured?)
Boiling one cow could take up to 60 hours (based on 200lb cow and 20min / lb) (this must have entailed associated periodic, short term settlement)
Share part of the prepared foods at the slaughter/butchery place (boiled/roasted - eyeballs, ‘offal’ etc)
Main portion brought to primary settlement for storage or sharing?

CONCLUSIONS
Must measure the right things
Must record stratigraphically – attempt to associate contemporary hearths, troughs and pits
Do not just record the ‘tidy’ features
Must do charcoal identifications
What analyses will pick up blood residues?
Need a shared database of these sites – recording presence/absence of key features along with dimensions & dates (see Welsh roundhouse database)
Need to agree terminology and definitions of features

Burnt Mounds and Food Processing; Lecture given to the NRA 2009 Seminar

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