Dun Ballynavenooragh

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 
BW

The Dun Ballynavenooragh (also Ballynavenooragh Stone Fort or Irish Cathair na bhFionnúrach , locally also known as Cathair a 'Bhoghaisín - which can be translated as Fort of the Rings or the Rainbow), is located in the townland of Ballynavenooragh (Irish Baile na bhFionnúrach ) in the north of the Dingle Peninsula , near Mount Brandon , in County Kerry , Ireland . The stone fort has been archaeologically examined twice. In 1893, William Darcy carried out a poorly documented excavation. The one carried out by Erin Gibbons between 1994 and 1997, however, produced a wealth of information.

The dun, which has mainly elements of the cashel of Kilmovee in County Mayo , but has been more heavily reconstructed, consists of a circular wall about 29.0 m in diameter, which survived up to 3.5 m wide and 2.5 m high. The inside of the dry stone wall consisted of at least seven layers of stone. Originally there were wall terraces in front of it. The wall contained two niches, only one of which has been preserved. The relatively spacious chamber can be reached from the interior of the dun via an access with a lintel . The original function of these wall chambers, which can be found especially in Brochs , is unknown.

The entrance to the fort is in the west and is defined by a 1.4 m wide gap in the wall. The narrow corridor between the wall and the central building is flanked by stones and is paved. Posts and a threshold stone flank the entrance to the fort, which originally had a lintel. The entrances to the fort and the inner building were likely blocked by wooden gates, evidence of which was found in the 1990s.

The interior is dominated by the basal remains of a large 8-shaped stone building. It consists, as a form that is often to be found in Iron Age Ireland, of two unequally large connected rooms (or two similar tangent circles) that are connected by a door. The larger, western one is about six feet in diameter and contained two hearths and a number of pits, as well as post holes, some of which were lined with stone. The posts either supported a roof, were part of an internal partition, or were stake gods. Findings inside were sparse, but that included a polished stone ax and anvil stone . The latter may have belonged to a small furnace that was detected inside the building.

The smaller room is about 4.5 m in diameter and contained the access to the house formation on the north side. It contained a stove, numerous post holes and the remains of an entrance to a basement . The access to the “Cathair na bhFionnurach” is in a bricked-in pit in the ground, which later formed a small roofed chamber, to which an earthen ramp and stone stairs led. The access is blocked by an iron grille.

Immediately north of the 8-shaped building was a roughly 2.0 m wide and 1.9 deep, partially bricked-up pit that was filled with organic residues. This included grass, flax, and straw, as well as human excrement and wood artifacts. Fruit seeds represent food waste. These included apples, blueberries and hazelnuts, as well as grapes. Other artifacts uncovered during the excavation consisted of a lead weight , iron slag, an iron fragment, iron knives, lamps, spindle whorls , fragments of glass beads and crucibles, as well as broken pottery (including goods imported from the Mediterranean region from the 6th century) and two pennies from Henry III. from the middle of the 13th century.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As with all structures that are only basal, it remains to be seen whether it is a deliberate structure
  2. ↑ The location of melting furnaces within closed, difficult-to-ventilate rooms is questionable

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 34.3 "  N , 10 ° 17 ′ 52.7"  W.