A 10 mile, 6000 year bimble along the Cotswolds escarpment between Stroud and Dursley today. Three Neolithic long barrows, including the wondrous Hetty Pegler's Tump, a Bronze Age cairn and an Iron Age hillfort, with 4 hills (Tumps) thrown in for added exertion and heat.
This might not look like much, but it's the remains of an Iron Age enclosure in Pollok Country Park in Glasgow. It consists of a 30 m diametre ditch (partly visible on the left) surrounding a raised central area (background right), with a causeway leading out of it (foreground right) to a paved road. Excavations suggest it dates from between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago and probably functioned as a defensive structure.
#Celtic#FolkloreThursday: How did the storytellers of the #IronAge learn about the prehistory of #Ireland? #Fintan mac Bochra could tell them all about it, because he lived for at least 5000 years after the Deluge well into the time of #Fionn Mac Cumhaill, becoming the repository of all knowledge of #Ireland and all history.
#FolkloreSunday: Behind the fortification of Cronk ny Merriu are the remains of a homestead. Originally believed to have been build in the #Celtic #IronAge it was later re-occupied during the Norse Period. The site has a building nearly rectangular in construction with three doorways and a standard Norse central hearth. Remains of this building are clearly visible.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronk_ny_Merriu
13 bluebell and wild garlic-filled miles along the Cotswolds escarpment this morning, taking in Painswick Beacon hillfort, Cooper's Hill cross dyke and Crickley Hill hillfort, with views of Leckhampton hillfort for a finale.
"A Roman cavalry helmet unearthed as part of the most important Iron Age discoveries ever made in the UK has been replicated to show how it might have looked some 2,000 years ago."
snippet “ The settlement unearthed at Cap d'Erquy comprises approximately twenty circular dwellings strategically positioned around a central plaza. Based on archaeological assessments, it is estimated that this village was inhabited by a Gallic community between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C....
Stepping back into the Iron Age at the wonderful Butser Farm last weekend - embarassed to say that i only this time realised there is a ditch work around the settlment (in my defence it is mostly fenced off)
Broch of Gurness, on the northern part of the main island of Orkney. Iron Age of course. The central tower was about three times its current height. It surrounded by a small village that was built later (possibly after the broch collapsed or been shortened).
It's forty minutes walk from the nearest bus stop. (I get on the bus and ask for a ticket to Evie? You're going to the broch, asks the bus driver. The second stop is closer and less traffic, he says. He'll drop me at the second stop.) But it doesn't feel like forty minutes and way worth it.
The entrance to the broch and part of the interior.
I don't have many interior photos. I was too busy taking little videos. (If you ever need shaky short videos of a broch, I can help!)
I swapped out the second photo for one from the phone. Lighting is a bit off but it wider view shows more of the room.
The remains of Dumbuck Crannog on the foreshore of the Clyde near Dumbarton Castle.
Crannogs were man-made islands with a house on them which were connected to the shore by a causeway. The first crannogs appeared Scotland and Ireland around 2,500 years ago, but the Dumbuck Crannog is thought to date from around 2,000 years ago.
Despite its age, you can still make out the causeway leading up to Dumbuck Crannog (in the foreground) and its circular base (in the distance) made from rocks, earth and wooden posts, some of which are still visible.
Wie die archäometallurgische Erforschung #eisenzeitlichen Metallhandels an @univienna und NHM Wien weitreichende #Handelsnetzwerke im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. aufblättert:
An iron age metal-forging shop has been discovered in Oxfordshire, complete with bellows protectors and the tiny bits of metal that flew off as the red hot iron was hammered into shape.
#Celtic#LegendaryWednesday#HillfortsWednesday: Cashelmore, also called Clogher Stone Fort, is a stone ringfort (cashel) and National Monument located in Co Sligo. The stone cashel walls are probably early #IronAge, but could be earlier. Restoration work took place in the 19th century.
The fort has an internal diameter of 26 m (85 ft). The walls are 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) high and 4.2 m (14 ft) thick. Five stairways lead to the top of the wall.
Source: Cashelmore - Wikipedia
Snippet: “A 2,000-year-old knife with a runic inscription has been found near Odense on the island of Funen. The five engraved runes on the knife are the oldest ever discovered in Denmark…...
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Brigid is according to Patricia Monaghan ("The Red-Haired Girl From The Bog") more a title than a name. The "Sublime" is a tribute to the great mother goddess, who was also worshipped elsewhere as #Eithne, #Dana & ev. #Sul. She was the central figure of the gods in the period of matriarchy, which ended in the #IronAge. And she is still today the bridge (English bridge is derived from Brigid) between the ancient faith & Christianity: here as a goddess, there as a saint.
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday#FairyTaleFlash: On #Arthurs Seat in #Edinburgh there‘s a #hillfort of #IronAge date, which is connected with the legend of Arthur of Britain. Here young people still go on May Day morning in order to wash their faces in the dawn dew and make a wish. Source: Anne Ross #Celtic Britain`
#Celtic#FindsFriday: Propeller-shaped artefact from the weapons grave with surgical instruments in Pottenbrunn, Lower Austria
Source: MAMUZ Mistelbach, Lower Austria
#Celtic#FindsFriday: In 1855, an extraordinary artefact was unearthed in a small quarry on Corleck Hill near Bailieborough in Co Cavan. This unusual early #IronAge stone head was 32cms high, made from sandstone, and had three faces, each one almost identical with a narrow mouth, bossed eyes, and a rather enigmatic expression. Corleck Hill, from the Irish corr, meaning ‘round hill’ and leac, meaning ‘flat stone/ rock’, has a long association with the worship of the old Gods. It is also known by another name, Sliabh na trí Dána, meaning ‘the hill of three Gods’. In Irish mythology, the term ‘Trí de Dána’ refers to the Three Gods of Art; Goibniu the smith, Luchtaine the carpenter, and Credne the goldsmith. Could the stone head with its three faces represent this trio of skilled craftsmen/deities, after which the hill of its resting place was named?
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#FindsFriday: „Like some decorated #IronAge standing stones, the #Mullamast, Co. Kildare, pillar-stone belongs to a tradition associated with pagan beliefs realting to fertility. It too is decorated overall with La Tène designs, both incised and in relief. Spiral ornament and animal-headed designs on the Mullamast stone, however, are best compared with decoration found on brooches of the 5th to 7th cent. AD, and suggest an early medieval date for it. The Mullamast stone may have been considered to have magical properties, and deep score-marks suggest that weapons were sharpened on it, perhaps to ensure success in battle. Mullamast was the seat of the kings of Leinster territory of Uí Dúnlainge, a dynasty that also supplied provincial kings.“
Source: National Museum of Archaeology in Dublin
LIDAR Discovers Circular Iron Age Village At Cap d’Erquy, France (www.ancientpages.com)
snippet “ The settlement unearthed at Cap d'Erquy comprises approximately twenty circular dwellings strategically positioned around a central plaza. Based on archaeological assessments, it is estimated that this village was inhabited by a Gallic community between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C....
2,000-Year-Old Knife With Denmark’s Oldest Runes Found On Funen (www.ancientpages.com)
Snippet: “A 2,000-year-old knife with a runic inscription has been found near Odense on the island of Funen. The five engraved runes on the knife are the oldest ever discovered in Denmark…...