Basement in Ireland
The majority of the basement in Ireland ( Irish uaimheanna talún ) was found in relation to a Dun , Hillfort or Rath . These are Irish forts. In some fort a collapsed basement is suspected, as a subsidence shows the outline of this structure. There are clues for basement in aerial photographs, but mostly they come to light through cultivation of fields (plowing) or through excavations. Few basements were found as a result of targeted excavations. Between 1930 and 2004, 247 or about 8% of all about 3000 known basements were excavated.
Names
Names used in the past were Dane's Hole and Rath Cave. Folk names for basements range from Cave or Poll Talaimh to Tigh-faoi-thalamh and Carraig-an-tseomra. Anthony T. Lucas states that during the time they were in use, Uam (Uaimh in modern Irish) was one of the names in common.
distribution
Several thousand basements have been discovered on the island. However, the distribution pattern is inconsistent. While west of Cork (about 500), north Antrim and Louth , and south Galway contain large numbers, counties like Carlow and Limerick are almost empty. In Central Ireland there are large areas where basements are not often found. Examples are Meath , Westmeath , South Longford , North Dublin , West Galway and Offaly . Some of the gaps can be explained by mountains and wet lowlands including moors. There are unusually few basement (6) z. B. Connemara , of which four are in Raths, (e.g. Cregg, Irish An Chreig or Dane's Hole) or in an enclosure. The basement of Kilmurvy (Irish Cill Mhuirbhigh ) was the only one found on the Aran Islands .
It is impossible to estimate the number of basements on the island , but also in Cornwall and Scotland . The sum is possibly almost as large as that of the 40,000 forts. But not every fort or every early church enclosure is paired with a basement. It gives examples where no traces of a fence have been found ( Craig Hill in County Antrim , Dunalis in County Londonderry or Ballyglass, in County Mayo ).
Description of the types
The basement can be defined as an artificial cave, which has its most faithful continental counterpart in the circumalpine earth stables . Basement floors are (though rarely) on Irish measuring table sheets; commonly referred to as a " cave ".
The varied methods of basement construction in Ireland are determined by geological factors.
- Where the soil was of such a consistency that a collapse was hardly conceivable, they were dug as tunnels (earth-cut souterrains), primarily in County Cork
- others were cut into relatively easy-to-work rock (e.g. sandstone , shale ) (rock-cut souterrains) primarily in the counties of Antrim and Cork.
- Much more often than the above two types, but basements are found with walls of dry masonry (stone-built souterrains) ( Finnis basement ) and roofs of large stone slabs.
- Combinations in which one part was cut into the rock or into the earth or both and another part was bricked up are also known (Kilberribert, in County Cork, Toberdoney, in County Down ).
- In Coolcran, County Fermanagh , a completely wooden basement was excavated by BB Williams in 1985.
The wooden roof of the "earth-cut" basement of Letterkeen, County Mayo, was supported by posts in the aisle. Excavations have also shown that some of the masonry basements had wooden roofs. At Ballycatteen Fort in County Cork and some of the basements of Cush, County Limerick , it was observed that they were partially covered with stone and partially with wooden roofs.
The characteristic of earth-cut and rock-cut basement are small step niches that were used to enter the basement through the vertical access tubes that are often found. Built-in structures that have seldom been observed in the context of "stone-built" basements are drains and chimneys at hearths marked by accumulations of charcoal. They were found in the rock-cut basement of Curraghcrowley, near Ballineen, in County Cork. Air holes have been observed in several basements (e.g. Mullagharlin, in County Louth ). In some cases the end of the air supply was some distance from the basement.
In the corridors of the basement there are various structural obstacles that M. Clinton classified as “trapdoor” or “stepped features”. In the simplest form, these consist of a narrowing that can only be crawled through, a so-called slip . In Tobergill, County Down, the hatch, adjoined by more spacious corridors, was barely 40 cm wide and 60 cm high. There are instances where the roof has been pulled down towards the floor or the floor has been pulled up towards the roof (Aird and Craig, both in County Antrim). In the mostly labyrinthine basement, corridors can end blind or form niches. A basement can be relatively simple in terms of its floor plan or be very complex. In its simplest form, it consists of a narrow passage sometimes of considerable length. However, it is more common to divide the aisle into a series of rooms that are connected by slips.
Many basements contain rooms in the form of beehive huts , in Crossdrum near Oldcastle in County Meath , in Kildalton in County Kilkenny and in Castle Hyde in County Cork (three in a row), with cantilever vaults , in the manner of the earlier passage Tombs or of the Clochan-type huts on the west coast. Overhanging masonry was discovered to a lesser extent in corridors in order to draw in their width in the upper area and so lead to shorter lintels than would be necessary with vertical walls. There are examples where the individual chambers are not on the same level, but form a two-story structure via ramps. Some have revolving bank altars made of dry stone masonry .
Most of the corridors and chambers are covered with stone slabs that rest on the side walls. There are also some more than 2.0 m wide chambers, the ceiling of which consists of slabs that rest on supports (similar to Grain Earth House in Scotland). The ceiling of the earth-cut basement of Roovesmore near Aglish in County Cork is supported by six pillars (three pairs) on which lie multilayered, overlapping eight elongated stone slabs (also reused Ogham stones).
location
Forts, basements come in connection with structures made of stone and earth (Raths and Promontory Forts . In some cases the basement is inside the fort, in others it has a second entrance outside the fort. In the case of the coastal promontory fort of Dunbeg ( 1), in County Kerry and in the case of the Inland Promontory Fort of Cahercommaun (2), in County Clare , one end of the three basements is outside the rampart area. Some cells in the walls of the great stone forts are built in a manner similar to that of basements . The basement of Leacanabuaile , County Kerry, ends in a room in the wall. An unusual use of a basement was discovered in the nearly ruined fort of Kiltarnaght, County Mayo. The partially roofless basement has expanded to a depth of one Meters filled with water and is visited as a holy spring (St. Dominick Well).
The area occupied by a basement within the fort is usually relatively small, around 10%. However, there are cases where a very complicated basement occupies the entire interior of a fort. An example is Derrymore East near Tralee in County Kerry. In County Antrim it is rumored that entire fields are riddled with basements that form an underground village. Excavations at Ballycatteen , County Cork and Ballywee , County Antrim , have revealed several basements on a settlement site that consisted of a complex of councils and buildings. However, complex systems like this are rare.
In addition to forts, Irish basements are sometimes combined with church buildings. Since many old Irish churches were built in older enclosures, associations with basements are to be expected. In Glencolumbkille , in County Donegal and in Killala, in County Mayo, there is a connection to an early church or cathedral. In Caherbullog, in County Cork, the basement is under the church and in Killylagan, in County Louth, there is a basement by a cillin . Excavations have shown that the basements in the hills of the Passage tombs of Knowth and Dowth are of early Christian date and that the hill was turned into a fort structure by a ditch and flattening.
The access to the basement, which M. Clinton divides into five types (ramp, pit-drop, shaft, stepped and hatch) was probably always within an above-ground building. The excavation on Craig Hill, County Antrim, discovered the access in a rectangular post building. In Whitefort, County Down, the basement is adjacent to a log cabin. In Ballywee, in the county. Antrim and within the Dun of Knockdrum near Castletownsend, in County Cork, the basements were connected to the stone structures. In Glenderry near Ballyheige, County Kerry, there is no evidence of a former fort, but the basements are stone huts.
purpose
The purpose of the Scottish basements is not entirely unknown since the Windwick excavation. Interpretations as defensive structures or stables were rejected, the most likely today is no longer a use as a granary. The cultic function can no longer be denied. There is likely a similar tradition of using Irish basements as well.
Finds, dating
247 or about 8% of all of Ireland's recorded basements were excavated between 1930 and 2004 in 15 different counties. The greatest concentration of excavated basements was in Antrim, Cork, Kerry, Louth and Meath. Very few have been excavated in Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Offaly, Wexford and Wicklow, and in parts of the west and north-west of the island.
Basement ware is a poorly decorated, qualitatively poor, early medieval (about 7th to 12th century) ceramic that occurs in Ireland primarily in the province of Ulster , mostly in small pieces in basement. Other finds from the basement can be counted. The hand mill at Cush, in County Limerick, cannot be any older than the early Iron Age. In Downview, near Westpark, near Belfast, a flat-bottomed product was found, which was produced in the north-eastern part of Ireland, although it cannot be precisely dated, but in early Christian times. The ceramics known as "Souterrain Ware" are, however, in Ringforts, z. B. Lissue and Ballyaghagan, in County Antrim and in Crannógs , (in Lough Faughan, in County Down) are more common. The discovery of a bronze needle in the basement of Letterkeen in County Mayo also testifies to an early Christian date. Other finds also indicate an early Christian date for the forts and basements. Ogham stones were found as building material in 44 basements - 15 alone in the basement of Ballyknock, in County Cork. In the basement of Drumlohan , County Waterford, 10 Ogham stones were used as lintels or bearing stones. In Dunloe , near Killarney , eight ogham stones were found built into the same structure. This shows that the structures were built when the Ogham stones used were no longer honored.
The few older finds, such as the bronze axes in the basement of Aghadown, near Baltimore, in County Cork, and bronze spears from a basement near Holly Fort, in County Wexford, are not conclusive enough to influence the dating. References to urns in published material cannot be identified as burial urns or domestic pottery. The union of basement with ring fort proves that they are an integral part of the ring fort tradition. Based on the evidence currently available, the history of the basement in Ireland, such as that of the ring forts, can be attested from the early Iron Age through the early Christian to medieval times.
The approximately 1000 year old "rock cut" basement of Releagh was discovered in 2015 during the expansion of the N71 between Bonane and Glengarrif in the Caha Mountains in County Kerry in Ireland .
See also
literature
- Mark Clinton: The Souterrains of Ireland. 2001, ISBN 1-869857-49-6 .
- AEP Collins: A basement at Tobergill Co. Antrim. In: Ulster journal of archeology. Ser. 3, Vol. XXIII, 1960, pp. 80-81.
- Deirdre Murphy: Archaeological excavation of a souterrain at Farrandreg, Dundalk, County Louth (1997-2000). In: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society. vol. 24, 1997/2000, pp. 261-280.
- Seán P. Ó Ríardáin: Antiquities of the Irish countryside . Ruaidhrí de Valera (Ed.) Pp. 65ff.
- BB Williams: Excavation of a rath at Coolcran, County Fermanagh. UJA (3rd series) 48, pp. 69-80.
- Mark Clinton: Porthole-Slabs in Souterrains in Ireland In: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Vol. 127 (1997), pp. 5-17
- JP McCarthy: Summary of a study of county Cork souterrains Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 1983
Individual evidence
- ^ Ian Armit: The abandonment of Souterrains: evolution, catastrophe or dislocation? In: Proc Soc Antiq Scot . tape 129 (1999) , pp. 577-596 ( online [PDF]).