Where worlds meet. Two Irish prehistoric mountain-top "villages"

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Published

2015-12-29

Issue

Section

Archaeology of Europe's mountain areas: Essays

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1129

Authors

  • Stefan Bergh School of Geography and Archaeology National University of Ireland, Galway Galway. Ireland

Abstract

Mountains and high ground are often venerated as special places. It is their enigmatic quality as high places, their prominence and permanence in both the mental and physical landscapes that draw us to them. In the Neolithic/Bronze Age mountain tops in Ireland were frequently used for ritual purposes, often indicated by the presence of various monuments such as passage tombs, cairns as well as enclosures. In a few instances large cluster of circular houses have been recorded in close proximity to these monuments. The two largest clusters, with some 150 houses each are both found on conspicuous, rather inaccessible summits in karst landscapes. This paper presents the methodologies used in recent surveys of these two sites. The role of these seemingly “domestic structures” in highly charged ritual contexts is also discussed.


Montagne e rilievi sono spesso venerati come luoghi speciali ed è proprio la loro enigmatica caratteristica di luoghi elevati, la loro prominenza e permanenza nei nostri paesaggi mentali e fisici, che ci attrae verso di essi. In Irlanda, durante il Neolitico e l’Età del Bronzo, le cime delle montagne sono state frequentemente utilizzate a scopi rituali, spesso contraddistinte dalla presenza di tombe megalitiche dette ‘passage tombs’, da tumuli di pietre detti ‘cairns’ e da recinti conosciuti come ‘enclosures’. In alcuni casi, estesi nuclei abitativi con strutture a forma circolare sono strati scoperti a distanza ravvicinata da questi monumenti rituali. I due insediamenti di maggiore estensione, con più di 150 strutture ciascuna, sono stati rinvenuti su cime elevate e piuttosto inaccessibili, in un paesaggio carsico. Quest’articolo vuole presentare le metodologie utilizzate nelle recenti ricognizioni di superficie che hanno interessato questi due siti. Inoltre verrà discussa ed interpretata la funzione di queste strutture apparentemente adibite ad uso abitativo entro un contesto di spiccato valore rituale.

 

References

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Author Biography

Stefan Bergh, School of Geography and Archaeology National University of Ireland, Galway Galway. Ireland

Stefan Bergh, School of Geography and Archaeology, National University or Ireland Galway,
University Road, Galway, Ireland, e-mail: stefan.bergh@nuigalway.ie.

Stefan Bergh

lectures in archaeology at the National University of Ireland, Galway and is Programme Director of the MA programme in Landscape Archaeology.

 

His research interests are focused on Neolithic and Bronze Age landscapes, particularly the ritual/secular dimensions of upland landscapes. He has over many years carried out extensive surveys, field walking programmes and excavations, mainly in the west of Ireland. Current research projects involve the clustered upland prehistoric ‘settlements’ of Mullaghfarna (Co. Sligo) and Turlough Hill (Co. Clare). He is the author of Landscape of the Monuments.

How to Cite

Bergh, S. (2015). Where worlds meet. Two Irish prehistoric mountain-top "villages". Il Capitale Culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, (12), 21–44. https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1129