Crannóg No. 1 from Ballinderry
The excavation of Crannóg No. 1 of Ballinderry in the townland of the same name ( Irish Baile an Doire ) in County Westmeath in Ireland has produced most of the data on the original construction and subsequent remodeling of an Irish Crannóg . The Crannóg seems to be typical of many other artificial islands where the information was less dense.
The first phase of Ballinderry No. 1, at the end of the 10th century, consisted of a wooden platform about six square meters. Similar platforms had also been noticed on other Crannógs. It was believed that they were used as rafts to reach the point where the Crannóg was to be built. At Ballinderry # 1, there was no evidence that the logs were tied together. Instead, they were held in place by hooks on the lake floor, indicating that the lake level was lower when the platform was built. Around this platform and three meters outside, an irregular circle of light stakes was set. Inside some beams have been grouped radially and at right angles. The beams are from an earlier building. Many of them were processed and provided information about the highly developed carpentry technique. Peat and brushwood were piled up alternately over the platform and the timber. Animal bones were found in the layers. Flat stones were placed in places to consolidate the layers. A considerable number of beams were laid on this base, which formed the foundation for the floor, which consisted of carefully crafted wattle.
The timbers that formed the foundation for the floor covered an area in the shape of a horseshoe about 16 m in diameter. There was a hearth in the center, as evidenced by the irregular distribution of ash. A palisade had been built around the island, encompassing an area 26 m in diameter. The palisade was strongest on the side where the island faced the land. Here up to ten rows of stakes formed the palisade. On the opposite side of the island the palisade was weaker, but outside the crannóg stakes were rammed into the seabed as an obstacle. The access to the Crannóg is marked by a gap in the palisade. The island is made of layers of sticks by a dam and has a number of posts on either side. The access and the dam show that the Crannóg could be reached on foot, at least in the dry seasons. Boats were moored on a quay on the opposite side. The quay was built with horizontal beams and covered with peat. Its construction seems to be a later installation.
The initial house on the Crannóg was probably abandoned due to subsidence of the ground due to the poor foundation. The surface was then raised by material similar to that used in the foundation layers but with the addition of layers of gravel . Enclosed in the filling layers was a decommissioned dugout canoe . Two houses were built on this new surface, no longer centrally as in the case of the original house, but near the edge, around which a new palisade - this time made of square timber - was built. When the two secondary houses were abandoned, a new layer was applied and a fourth house was built on top of it, but only scant traces of it remain. Coins of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and Jacob II found in the upper layers provide information about a later, presumably different use.
Many of the discoveries made at Ballinderry No. 1 seem to be typical of the great early medieval Crannógs. Parallels can be found in the construction method, the materials, the palisade, the house, structural changes and later re-use. In the Lagore crannóg, three palisades show three successive phases of use. There are stakes as an obstacle in the lake floor, less pronounced at Ballinderry No. 2 - and it has been pointed out that these correspond to the chevaux de frise of the stone forts .
There is no evidence that a large number of houses were built on Irish crannógs. Evidence of metal and glass work as well as less specialized occupations has been found on Crannógs. This is what distinguishes the Irish Crannóg from English systems such as Glastonbury and Meare in Somerset . The Somerset complex has several houses surrounded by a palisade. Outwardly they resemble the Irish Crannóg, but differ in their social organization.
Ballinderry is also a Scheduled Historic Monument in Craigavon , Northern Ireland .
In 1933 the excavation of Crannóg Ballinderry No. 2 in neighboring County Offaly took place. The Ballinderry cube was discovered. On one side it has the Ogham symbol with the sound value V instead of the five dots.
literature
- Hugh O'Neill Hencken: Ballinderry Crannog No 1. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 43C, 1936 pp. 103-239
- Hugh O'Neill Hencken: Ballinderry Crannog No 2. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 47C, 1942 pp. 1-76
- R. Johnson: Ballinderry Crann6g No 1 A reinterpretation . Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 99C, 1999 pp. 23-71
- Ruaidhrí de Valera: Antiquities of the Irish Countryside, 5th edition, 1987, Methuen, London, ISBN 0-416-85630-6 p. 90 ff
- Aidan O'Sullivan: Crannogs, Lake-dwellings of early Ireland , Country House, Dublin 2000, ISBN 1-86059-091-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ The palisades, which are usually linked with fortification properties, had a temenos function in cult sites like the Chevau de Fries , which can also be transferred to borders made of other materials, such as stone (curbs, stone circles, etc.). Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 , p. 201 ff.
- ↑ The activities on Crannógs thus correspond to those in simultaneous continental earthworks (such as Büdelsdorf in the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district)
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 24 '41.9 " N , 7 ° 41' 58.7" W.