why-bless-your-heart:

theoldstone:

A fulacht fiadh is a type of archaeological site. While not specific to Ireland, exactly, the name is decidedly Irish Gaelic. They are essentially simple hot water systems common to the Bronze Age, though some examples from the Neolithic age exist.

These systems are generally made up of 3 main elements: a mound of stones, a fire hearth to heat the stones, and a trough filled with water. It worked quite simply: the stones would be heated in the hearth, then moved into the trough filled with water, and the heat from the stones would heat the water. It was convection heating before humans even had a word for it.

While the purpose of this system is pretty obvious, it seems archaeologists are hung up on why our ancestors needed to use hot water, which strikes me as a bit of a silly problem to latch onto. That said theories vary. Some say it was only used as a primitive meat cooking kitchen, others say it was strictly for bathing, and others still say it was for washing and dyeing clothes. Admittedly part of the complication is that there aren’t always buildings nearby or close to the fulacht fiadh, so it does beg the question why someone would have hot water located so far away from where they might conceivably need it.

Two gaels chillin’ in a hot tub