Souterrain

A panoramic view of a souterrain contemporary with a ringfort dating to around 700 AD, built within a much earlier barrow cemetery, in County Armagh, Ireland

Souterrain (from French 'sous terrain', meaning 'under ground') is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul during the late Iron age. Regional names include earth houses, fogous and Pictish houses. They are often referred to locally in Ireland simply as 'caves'.

The name comes from the French language, in which it means "underground passageway". In languages other than English, it is sometimes used to mean 'basement', especially in warehouses.

Souterrains are underground galleries and, in their early stages, were always associated with a settlement. The galleries were dug out and then lined with stone slabs or wood before being reburied. In cases where they were cut into rock this was not always necessary. They do not appear to have been used for burial or ritual purposes and it has been suggested that they were food stores or hiding places during times of strife, although some of them would have had very obvious entrances. In Ireland they are often found inside or in close proximity to a ringfort and as such are thought to be mainly contemporary with them, making them somewhat later in date than in other countries. This date is reinforced by many examples where ogham stones, dating to around the sixth century have been reused as roofing lintels or door posts, most notably at the widened natural limestone fissure at the 'cave of the cats' in Rathcrogan. Their distribution is very uneven in Ireland with the most notable concentration centred around county Louth. In Scotland some of them may be connected with the same people who built brochs.

An example of an excavated souterrain is the site at Rosal, Strathnaver, Sutherland. In this excavation, no artefacts or other finds were made inside the structure and the roof may have been only partially covered with stones, a timber roof being present on part of it. It was suggested that the souterrain could have been used as a byre or barn and it was associated with an abandoned settlement.

References

*Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1967-68. Vol.100. Pps. 114-118.

See also

• Fogou

External links

• The Raitts souterrain, approximately two thousand years old, in the Badenoch district of the Scottish Highlands.