Ancient Secrets Revealed: Mysterious Artifacts Unearthed at Rathgurreen Ringfort Spark Excitement in Ireland
Rathgurreen Ringfort, A Medieval Settlement For High-Status Individuals
Aengus McMahonThe University of Galway’s Michelle Comber with a turquoise and red glass bead from Rathgurreen Ringfort.
As reported by The Irish Times, the archaeology team spent eight weeks digging at the ringfort, during which they found a number of glass beads of varying colors, including blue, turquoise, and red. Many of the beads are believed to date back to the early medieval period, but it’s also possible that some of them originated from the Iron Age, the era just before the early medieval period.
University of Galway/FacebookExcavations at the ringfort in the 1940s.
“We are working in an ancient high-status settlement located roughly midway along the Atlantic seaboard,” Comber said. “In no sense, though, would it have been viewed as ‘wild’ or isolated — on the contrary it was part of a wider community and had links with other parts of Ireland, Scotland and mainland Europe. The adjacent coast provided relatively easy access to the outside world — seaways were the motorways of their day.”
They also unearthed medieval pottery that has origins in northern France and amber beads that bear resemblance to ones found in Scandinavian countries along Viking trade routes. In addition, the archaeology team uncovered evidence of the manufacture of valuable purple dye, such as remnants of dog-whelk shellfish that would have been used to produce the rare coloring.
Aengus McMahonDr. Michelle Comber and Susan Curran at the dig site.
“We have evidence of continuity and change at this site — a settlement that possibly dates back to the Iron Age, that was later developed into a very fine ringfort,” Comber said. “A new home with links to ancestors would certainly have been very attractive to early medieval nobility.”
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