Ireland’s Ringforts: not just a home for the fairies

Re-constructed Ringfort at Craggaunowen, Co. Clare

Ringforts are Ireland’s most common field monument, with about 45,000 recorded examples. There are approximately 60 ringforts in the area around Lough Gara most of which are located on the eastern side of the lake. The short distance between some of these ringforts suggests a connection and the possible existence of a small village in medieval times.

Ringforts are circular areas, measuring c.24-60m in diameter, usually enclosed with one or more earthen banks, often topped with a timber palisade. While the term ‘ringfort’ dominates, other terms are also used such as rath, lios, caiseal and dun. Rath and lios are normally used to describe monuments with earthen banks while caiseal (cashel) and dun are more generally used in relation to sites with stone-built enclosures.

Most ringforts have only one surrounding wall, while some have two, and a smaller number have three. It is generally accepted that the more banks and ditches the monument has, the higher the social status of its owner.

There has been some debate among archaeologists as to when Irish ringforts were built and used. In his work ‘The Irish Ringfort’, Matthew Stout has used the radiocarbon and dendrochronological dates from 114 ringforts and associated sites to find an overall date pattern for the use of ringforts. This work has placed over half of all ringforts in the period 540 AD to 884 AD with two-thirds of these falling within the 600 AD to 900 AD period.

Souterrains or underground passages are often found within ringforts and also date to the Early Medieval period. The term souterrain stems from the French words sous, meaning under and terre, meaning ground. They have been interpreted as places of refuge or storage areas and generally date to the later phase of the Early Medieval period.

Ringforts were traditionally thought to represent farmsteads. More recent archaeological evidence suggests that they may have fulfilled a variety of other functions as well. A number of these sites are thought to have been permanent centres of craftsmanship and manufacture, as evidenced by the presence of furnaces.

It has been argued that the purpose of the ringfort was to provide protection to a small community and their livestock during a 'hit and run' raid for cattle. Archaeologists believe that all ringforts in a region were probably occupied at the same time. Should one ringfort be attacked, help would possibly come from a neighbouring one.

Some scholars believe that ringforts may owe their origin to changes in the environment.  It is possible that periods of poor weather may have led to poor harvests, shortages of food, famine, lowering of resistance to disease and vulnerability to widespread pestilences.

The first historic plague (the Justinian, named after the emperor who was infected by it) was an outbreak of bubonic plague, which came to Ireland in AD 544 and decimated the people over several years. Several other pestilences are recorded from the mid-500s. Another severe outbreak of plague hit Ireland in 664.These may have played a part in the sudden desire of those who survived and could afford to do so, to secure themselves in ringforts.  (Lynne, C., Archaeology Ireland, Winter 2005). Experience of the first plague may have shown that small isolated communities had a better chance of avoiding infection.

It has been suggested that the fairies have been largely responsible for the survival of so many ringforts in Ireland. While few people in Ireland today would own up to believing in the existence of fairies it would be a brave individual who would tamper with a ringfort and risk upsetting the little people.

Despite the best efforts of the fairies to protect and preserve our ringforts, many have been lost over the years. Although such sites are protected monuments, some unscrupulous individuals have destroyed such sites in order to gain just a few hundred square meters of land. It is estimated that 37 per cent of such structures nation-wide have disappeared since the first Ordnance Survey was published in 1837.

Recently, a farmer was ordered to pay a €25,000 fine for demolishing a ring fort on his land or face two years in prison. Landowners are required to notify the Department of the Environment of their intention to carry out works near a national monument two months in advance and have to obtain written permission from the minister before they can proceed.

Ringforts are an important part of our Irish heritage and we need to care about them and preserve them for future generations.

Lough Gara - Why is this Lake Important?

Lough Gara Lake

The recent initiative to promote tourism in the Ballaghaderreen and surrounding area, using the theme Lough Gara Lake and Legends, is to be welcomed.  Whilst the lake straddles the border between Counties Sligo and Roscommon, this should not be allowed to be an obstacle to the development of the area’s potential. Lough Gara’s rich archaeological heritage can only be beneficial to the future economic well-being of both counties.

People have lived on or around this lake off and on for several thousand years leaving behind evidence of their presence in the form of stone axes, arrowheads, swords, spearheads and such like remnants. It is noted for the large number of crannogs and artefacts found following drainage in the early fifties.

Estimates of the number of crannogs on Lough Gara range from 145 to 369. According to Christina Fredengren (2002), the Swedish archaeologist who carried out an extensive survey of the lake, the highest number of crannogs that can be claimed for Lough Gara is 190. There are 61 definite crannogs in the lake, and 123 possible and unlikely sites.

The archaeological evidence suggests that crannogs were built in this lake in the Late Mesolithic around 3500 BC. The practice of building on the shallow shores increased during the Late Bronze Age, 1200–800 BC, and again in the Early Medieval period around 600 AD. Some crannogs were also used as late as the 17th century. Most islands in Lough Gara are stone built and many look like cairns. Some have small causeways leading out from the shoreline some of which zig-zag to deter unwanted visitors.

According to Fredengren’s research over 133 stone axes alone have been found along the shores of the lake. These are normally ascribed to both the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. It has been suggested that the lake could have been a gathering-place for small groups during the late Mesolithic period.

Archaeologists have excavated three of the crannogs in the lake - Rathtinaun on the eastern lakeshore, Tivannagh on the Boyle River and Sroove on the western side.

Rathtinaun Crannog

The foundations of Rathtinaun date from the late Bronze Age and the site was reused in the early medieval period. It is possible that the site also had a later medieval phase. At Tivannagh the earliest layers are believed to date from the Neolithic or, possibly, from the Mesolithic period.  A hoard of various items, including:  a necklace of amber beads, rings of bronze, of pure tin and three of lead with gold-foil cover, a pair of tweezers, bronze pin and six boar tusks, was found during the excavation of Rathtinaun crannog.

The excavation in Sroove showed that crannog use was not confined to people from the richer parts of society. People of lower social standing also built and lived on crannogs at this stage. Many of the items found on the site in its first phases were connected with personal appearance - a comb fragment, bone pins, iron pins and lignite bracelets. The discovery of a sewing needle suggests that people may have worked with textiles at this site.

Archaeologists also found a small bowl-shaped depression that may represent the shape of a small bowl-furnace for iron-smelting. Nearby, was found remains of slag, some pieces of which had the red clay remains of the furnace attached to them. There was also a large heavy stone that may have served as an anvil.

Crannogs at Inch Island, Derrycoagh, and at Derrymaquirk, have yielded finds such as bronze rings or swords found off or at the edges of the sites. A polished horn was found at the crannog in Sroove.   

Fredengren’s survey of the lake, radiocarbon-dating, together with the artefacts recovered, shows that Lough Gara was used during the Mesolithic period. People were already building artificial islands on the lake in the in the late Bronze Age. Most activity, however, is to be found in the early medieval period, leading into the high medieval period. Some of the earlier crannogs pre-date Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids and provide testimony to a bygone age. Today, they form the centrepiece of a local landscape rich in archaeology and history.

It is regrettable that there is still not a re-constructed crannog for visitors to view or an interpretive centre to bring the rich heritage of this area to life. As an interim measure, urgent efforts need to be made to establish an archaeological ‘trail’ around the lake consisting of suitable signing and information displays at appropriate points.

The current Lough Gara Lake and Legends initiative deserves our full support.

Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery - County Sligo

Lough Arrow viewed from
Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery

Carrowkeel Neolithic or New Stone Age passage tomb cemetery is situated in south County Sligo, near the village of Castlebaldwin.  The tombs are between 5400 and 5100 years old (3400 to 3100 BC), and predate the Pyramids of Egypt's by 500-800 years. Carrowkeel is one of four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland (the other three are Brú na Bóinne, Lough Crew, and Carrowmore). A total of 14 tombs have been recorded in this cemetery. Six more passage tombs are located close by in what archaeologists call the Keshcorran complex.

A passage tomb consists of a narrow stone-lined passage leading to a chamber. Other smaller chambers may open off the main chamber. The passage and chambers are roofed with capstones but larger chambers tend to be corbelled. A round cairn covers the actual tomb and the cairn is usually surrounded by kerbstones.

The mountain range containing Carrowkeel Cemetery is called the Bricklieve Mountains, which means the speckled mountains in Irish. This may refer to their appearance when more quartz rock survived on the outside of the cairns, causing them to sparkle in the sun. The Carrowkeel cairns are built on hilltops at altitudes between 240 and 360 meters.  

A common feature of Irish cairns is that the passage of one monument is frequently oriented to another prominent cairn, as well as the rising or setting position of the sun and moon. This occurs at several of the Carrowkeel cairns. For example, Cairn B opens towards Knocknarea and ruined Cairn M is oriented to Kesh Cairn. The tombs were largely intact when rediscovered and hurriedly excavated in 1911. The cairns were designated at this time by letters and this naming convention remains today.

Archaeologists do not know what ritual function, in addition to acting as burial places for the dead, the passage tombs served for these cultures. A reverence for the sun is suggested by the alignment of many of the passages to the rising or setting of the sun on yearly solstice or equinox events.

The Cairns

Three Cairns at Carrowkeel
Photo: bettlebrox - www.flickr.com

Cairn B is 22 metres in diameter, making it one of the larger cairns in the Bricklieve group. The passage is about 3 metres long and widens to a small chamber. The entrance is high up in the body of the cairn. In 2010 a local archaeologist discovered the first panel of megalithic art recorded at Carrowkeel consisting of two small spirals.

Cairn F is the largest and most important of the cairns at Carrowkeel. It has a diameter of 26 metres and probably stood 8 - 10 metres high. The cairn contains a very large well-built chamber formed from massive squared limestone slabs with five compartments, two at each side and an end recess. The passage is about 8m long.

Cairn G is the best preserved of the Carrowkeel monuments and is a fine example of a cruciform Irish Passage Cairn. It is a classic Irish passage tomb, consisting of a short passage leading to a central chamber with three equally spaced side chambers. The most interesting feature of this tomb is the roofbox situated above the entrance.  The sun enters the chamber through the roofbox at sunset around the summer solstice and illuminates the back of the chamber. The only other known roofbox was discovered at Newgrange .

Cairn G showing roofbox

Carrowkeel Cairn G is estimated to be 700 years older than Newgrange and is smaller and less sophisticated. The passage is two meters long compared with nineteen meters at Newgrange.

Cairn K was also constructed with the classic cruciform shaped chamber and has an intact dry-stone corbelled roof. The 7 metre-long passage is orientated to Queen Maeve's Cairn on the top of Knocknarea. It has a diameter of about 21 meters, is some 6 meters high, and is surrounded by a thick layer of bog, which has covered any kerbstones. The items found during the excavation of Cairn K in 1911 were typical of the finds in the other cairns: pieces of the Neolithic pottery, known as Carrowkeel Ware since that time; cremated human remains, chalk balls, antler pins and pendants.

Hut Sites

Nearby, at Mullaghfarna, archaeologists have identified more than 150 small stone lined hollows with entrance features which are believed to be Neolithic huts or enclosures.  Their circular stone foundations, with diameters ranging from 8 m to 18 m, still mark the spots where the tent-like huts stood. These hut sites may date from the third millennium BC. In 2003, trial excavations at three of the sites produced finds from the Neolithic/Bronze Age including:  chert scrapers, a flint knife, fragments of cremated bone, decorated pottery and charcoal. Similar objects were discovered during the excavation of hut sites on Knocknarea in 2000.

This prehistoric village is likely to have been connected to the Carrowkeel cairns and may have housed the workers who built the passage tombs, or perhaps their descendants, who attended some ancient ritual there.

Conclusion

The earliest evidence we have for human occupation in Ireland dates from around 8000 BC. For the next 4000 years our ancestors survived by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants. The gradual introduction of farming to Ireland around 4000 BC brought domesticated cereals and animals from Britain and the European mainland. Shortly after this time, people began to build megalithic tombs such as those at Carrowkeel, Carrowmore, Kesh and Knocknarea.

All told, there are 27 passage tomb monuments in the Carrowkeel-Keshcorran Complex, a total that includes three monuments located nearby but not in the Bricklieve Mountains. Archaeologists do not know what ritual function these passage tombs served, in addition to acting as burial places for the dead, for these cultures. The alignment of many of the passages to the rising or setting of the sun on yearly solstice or equinox suggests reverence to the sun. The presence of items not normally associated with the everyday life of these people and also the discovery of prehistoric art also point to a ritual function for these sites.

YouTube Video by Colm Sweeney

Archaeologists find bones of a Stone Age child and an adult in tiny cave

Knocknarea Mountain with Maeve's Cairn on Top

The Irish News edition of 28^th February 2014, reported that archaeologists at IT Sligo had found bones of a Stone Age child and an adult in a tiny cave high on Knocknarea Mountain. Radiocarbon dating has shown that they are 5,500 years old, which makes them among the earliest human bones found in the county. While this discovery is very exciting it is not entirely surprising, given the rich archaeological heritage of the county. The find provides important new evidence of Knocknarea’s Neolithic past and a prehistoric practice known as “excarnation” or de-fleshing.

Researchers discovered a total of 13 small bones and bone fragments in an almost inaccessible cave in November 2013. Three of the bones were from the child aged 4 to 6 years and 10 were from an adult aged 30 – 39 years. They included foot bones and fragments of skull. It was not possible to establish gender.

Archaeologists believe that the adult had been placed in the cave about 300 years before the child, who died about 5,200 years ago. The small number of bones and their small size suggest that the cave was an excarnation site. This process involved a corpse being placed in a cave and, after decomposition, the dry bones being transferred elsewhere. Fragments were sometimes accidentally left behind.

Dr Marion Dowd of IT Sligo is quoted as saying:  “When people died in prehistory, their corpses were sometimes laid out in caves. After one or two years, when the flesh and soft tissue had decomposed, the dry bones were collected and removed to another location.”

The final resting place of these ancient remains will probably never be known but this area of Sligo is rich in megalithic burial sites. Maeve’s Cairn, also known as Miosgan Meadhbha, is situated on the top of Knocknarea Mountain and must be a possibility. It has not been excavated but archaeologists believe that it belongs to the Irish megalithic tradition and dates from c3,200 BC - around the time the remains were deposited in the cave. It is the largest monument in the region and comparable to the Boyne Valley monuments in size and age.

Knocknarea Mountain overlooks Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, which is the largest cemetery of megalithic tombs in Ireland. It is also among the country’s oldest megalithic cemeteries with dates ranging between 4,500 – 3,500 BC. The meaning and function of these early stone monuments remain one of the mysteries of archaeology. It is known that the Megalithic tradition died out about 5,000 years ago when it was at its peak.

The earliest dates from the excavated tombs at Carrowmore centre around 5,000 BC with the latest about 3,000 BC. Archaeologists believe that most of the monuments were erected and used between 4,300 and 3,500 BC.

Listoghil Megalithic Tomb - Carrowmore

It is known that during the building of Listoghil, the main monument at Carrowmore, ritual activities took place involving extensive fires and these have been dated to 3,650 – 3,450 BC. A number of pits had also been dug during these ritual activities. Two cremations containing the remains of several humans were deposited in the circle behind the southern and western kerbstones and these were dated to 3,550 BC. The recovery of a piece of human skull dated to 3,500 BC shows that inhumations took place within the building period.

The discovery of 5,500 year old human bones in a cave on Knocknarea Mountain reminds us of the importance of Co. Sligo in pre-historic times and provides evidence for the practice of “excarnation” or de-fleshing prior to final burial.

The Derrymaquirk Bog Bodies

In 1959 the skeleton of a young woman, the skull of an infant, approximately two years old together with some animal bones (sheep/goat, dog and antler), were found in a bog in the townland of Derrymaquirk on the eastern side of Lough Gara, Co Roscommon. A large stone had been placed on the stomach of the woman and a piece of wood lay under her head.  Archaeologists believe that the piece of antler may have been significant in terms of the religious beliefs of the time. This burial has been dated to between 750 - 200 BC. Unlike other bog bodies which appear to have been placed in bog pools, the Derrymaquirk remains were in a cut grave and archaeologists believe that this was a formal burial rather than the disposal of victims of sacrifice.

Other examples of human remains similar to those at Derrymaquirk have been found in bog areas in the west of Ireland. The bodies of a man and child were found in Sheegeragh townland, Co. Roscommon and a deer antler was found nearby. A human skeleton found in the bog at Kinnakinnelly townland, Co. Galway, was also found with deer bones and dated from the Iron Age. Another bog body from Gallagh, Co. Galway, was dated from the same period.

Archaeologists believe that the siting of the Derrymaquirk grave in boggy ground may have been coincidental.  The Derrymaquirk grave is a boundary burial of a type known as a ferta. Many such burials have been identified on sites that are not boggy in nature. By locating cemeteries on boundaries during the Iron Age and early medieval period, it was believed that the ancestors interred there would act as guardians and protect the people. Burials in such cemeteries regularly contain red deer bones and antlers placed there as votive offerings.

Hundreds of bog bodies have been discovered in the boglands of Europe over the last few centuries, of which about 130 have been found in Ireland. The cold, acidic and anaerobic conditions in peat bogs preserve the bodies. The skin and internal organs are frequently well preserved while the bones are often dissolved by the acid. Some of the human remains discovered show signs of torture and execution, with evidence of hanging, strangulation, stabbing and bludgeoning. The majority of Irish bog bodies date from the Iron Age

More recent discoveries of Irish bog bodies are Clonycavan Man, Oldcroghan Man and Cashel man. These have provided important new insights into the ancient practice of disposing of bodies in bogs and have received extensive coverage in the media.

Clonycavan Man was discovered in 2003 on the border between Co. Meath and Co. Westmeath and has been dated to 392 – 201 BC. He was between 25 – 40 years of age and had been ritually killed. The nipples of Clonycavan Man had been partly cut.

The body of Oldcroghan Man (362 – 175 BC) was also found in 2003 while digging a drain along a parish boundary that once formed the boundary of the ancient tuatha of Croghan, Co Offaly. As in the case Clonycavan Man, circular cuts were visible around the upper parts of both nipples but it is not certain whether these occurred before or after death.

In ancient Ireland, sucking a king’s nipples was a gesture of submission and a means of placing oneself under the protection of the king. Archaeologists believe that the cutting of the nipples of Oldcroghan Man was part of the ritual in which he was ‘decommissioned’ from the role of king.

Cashel Man was found in 2011 in Cashel, Co. Laois and dated to 2000 BC. It is believed to be the oldest fleshed bog body to have been found in Europe.

The boglands of Ireland have provided us with a unique insight into the lives and beliefs of our ancient ancestors.