Rathgall

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Hillfort Rathgall in County Wicklow
Hillfort Rathgall in County Wicklow

The Hill Fort Rathgall , in County Wicklow , is one of the most important archaeological find sites of Ireland . The fort is considered to be Bronze Age . Finds from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages , however, show that Rathgall - with interruptions - was a place of human activity for several millennia.

construction

The Class 2 fort consists of four almost round concentric stone walls, which cover an area of ​​7.5 hectares. The inner wall ring, with a diameter of 35 m, is considered to be a building of the Middle Ages. Coins of Edward I and Edward III. date this part of the fort to the 13th and 14th centuries.

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

The medieval wall stands on a cultural layer of the Bronze Age, to which the three outer walls are also assigned. In the center of the facility, in addition to more than 4000 shards of bowls and pots, numerous artifacts such as spindle whorls and tools were discovered. Numerous ovens were not only used to prepare food, but point to forging . Particularly to the west of the inner ring, an area known as the workshop was exposed, in which traces of bronze work could be detected. In addition to large amounts of slag and charcoal, bronze pearls , spearheads and swords were also found . Golden artifacts such as pendants are also among the finds.

To the south of the workshops, also leaning against the inner wall, there is an area that was originally surrounded by a round ditch about 16 m in diameter. The remains of several Bronze Age cremations were found in it . In one case, the ashes of a woman and a child were in a pot-shaped pot. A stone slab was placed over it, which in turn was under a boulder. Only in one grave was a burial object found with a gold-plated ring .

The center of the Hillfort shows a puzzling finding. A ring of post holes 15 m in diameter was found here, which the excavator Barry Raftery regards as a house, although there are no indications of a roof structure. In the middle of this complex was the stone-lined grave of a man with a gold-plated copper ring . Raftery believes a funeral is just as possible here as a ritual laying down.

literature

  • Barry Raftery: A decorated Strap-End from Rathgall, Co. Wicklow.
  • Peter Harbison : Guide to the Naional Monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1992 ISBN 0-7171-1956-4 p. 259

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 48 ′ 9 "  N , 6 ° 39 ′ 43.3"  W.