Dun Aillinne Hillfort
Dun Ailinne Hillfort ( Irish Cnoc Ailinne ) is one of the three largest earthworks or ring forts in Ireland . It is between Kilcullen and Old Kilcullen on Knockaulin Hill, in County Kildare in Leinster . Its oval wall is about 500 by 400 m in diameter and over four meters high. The associated ditch is on the inside, which shows that the complex has no fortificative character. Traces show that the place was already visited in the Neolithic (remains of axes and arrowheads were relocated during the Iron Age). The facility, which dates from the Bronze Age , was used until the Middle Ages . It is thanks to John O'Donovan, a scholar of the 19th century, that the royal seat of Dun Ailinne, mentioned in the early Irish sources, was recognized as the Ring Hill at Kilcullen in 1837.
Barry Raftery (1944–2010) examined 40 single and multiple walled systems on the island (around 80 are known) and divided these hill forts into three classes:
- Class 1: Simply walled systems made of earth or stone with or without a ditch.
- Class 2: Systems with extensive, multiple walls on hills or cliffs.
- Class 3: Inland Promontory Forts
Dun Ailinne shows no traces of permanent settlement, but is associated with the seat of the kings of Leinster through the earliest mention in the 8th or 9th century, although it probably no longer fulfilled this function at that time, but as the central meeting place of the province was viewed. Speculation of a sun and moon observation feeds an anthropomorphic with notches and dish provided brick row inside. The most important period of use was in the Iron Age , in the centuries before and after the turn of the ages.
That it is more of a place of worship than a permanent settlement is confirmed by the round earth wall (365 m diameter) that surrounds the top of the hill and the moat inside the wall, as is the case in Navan Fort , the royal seat of Ulster , exists. In the case of fortresses, this ditch is outside the wall.
The Iron Age activities on the hill have been well researched archaeologically . There are:
- in phase 1: a round palisade trench 22 meters in diameter
- in phase 2: a similar installation, but with three concentric rings of 31 and 27 meters in diameter and with trenches of different depth (between 0.9–0.4 m) and width (0.8–0.25 m).
- in phase 3: two concentric trenches 42 and 37 meters in diameter replace the older system.
Inside the facility of the 2nd phase, the burned-down remains of wooden structures were also found, which look like a fulacht fiadh , but did not have any stone fixtures.
Legend
In the Irish legend Fotha Catha Cnucha ( German "The cause of the battle of Cnucha" ), King Cathair Mór hands over the hill of Almu (Dun Aillinne) to the druid Nuada mac Aichi. This hill later became known as the residence of Nuada's great-grandson Fionn mac Cumhaill .
literature
- Matthew Stout: The Irish Ringfort (= Irish Settlement Studies , Number 5). Four Courts Press, Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-85182-582-7 .
- Richard B. Warner et al .: Dun Ailinne: Excavations at an Irish Royal Site, 1968-1975 University of Pennsylvania Press 2007
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 6 ′ 26.3 " N , 6 ° 46 ′ 31.6" W.