Burnt mound

The shattering of the rock appears to have been the result of thermal shock when the heated stones were dropped into liquid, normally believed to be water.

One thesis is that mounds were created at hunting sites; this explanation would most likely result in the latter pattern of accumulation, while the former would suggest that the use of the trough was for an essentially domestic purpose.

The vast majority of burnt mounds are found in the uplands of Great Britain, and in Ireland where they are called fulachtaí fia.

There are settlement sites on Orkney, where the burnt mound material is found as thick layers[5] , but there is no trough to explain the shattering of the rocks.

The upland bias in distribution in Great Britain has led to a suggestion that they were cooking sites for hunting parties, and there are images from Medieval Irish texts that appear to show this.

[10] Barfield & Hodder interpreted burnt mounds as possibly places for bathing in heated water or steam, based on their discoveries of structures that could have involved tents and broken stones next to streams in the Birmingham area.

The process has been found to work; experiments were carried out in Ireland in the 1950s to show that a joint of meat could be fully cooked in about three to four hours through this method.

[2] More domestic purpose suggestions are heating water for bathing, dyeing or leather treatment, fulling, and the making of ale.