Monday 13th May:




5th year art history class:

Please write the following notes below into your hardback copies before Wednesday 15th May.  Any students who were absent for Monday's art history class please catch up on the IRON AGE notes below.

The Iron Age:

Iron began to replace bronze as the principal metal used in the production of tools and weapons in Ireland during what is known as the Iron Age.  These techniques originated with the Celts between 1000BC and 700BC in the Middle East and spread across Europe and Britain during the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.  The spread of the Celt’s culture throughout, as iron was a stronger and more hard wearing metal than bronze.  Ironworking in Ireland is thought to have begun around 350B.C.

Iron Age Structures:

Before we discuss the types of artefacts produced during the Iron Age, it is worth setting the scene with some information on the structures that were in place at the same time. The most common form of buildings were forts. The term fort generally indicates some sort of defensive structure but it is thought that this was not necessarily the reason for the existence of these buildings.  There were three types of fort created during the Iron Age: 1) Ring Forts 2) Hill forts 3) promontory forts.

Ring Forts:

These forts consist of a bank made of earth surrounding a circular space.  In Ireland they are often known by other names such as rath, dun or cathair.  In the east bank of Ireland the banks were chiefly made of earth, whereas in the west where stone was more plentiful, stone walls were used to circle the fort.  A ring fort was a communal dwelling place, housing a number of small wattle and daub huts.  Wattle and daub is a building material used for making walls.  It involves wattle (interwoven branches or sticks) being covered with daub, (a mix of clay, mud, dung and straw and left to harden.

The domestic animals that were free to roam outside the fort during the day would have been brought inside the banks at night.  It is likely that the walls or banks of the fort were used to defend the people or animals from wolves and wild animals rather than invaders.

Hill Forts:

Hill forts are less plentiful in Ireland and, as the name suggests, are found on top of hills.  The banks of these forts include the entire summit of the hill and are generally much larger than the ring forts in construction.  The functions of these forts are unclear to this day.  In some cases they were used to hold pagan ceremonies.

Promontory Forts:

Promontory forts are found in two locations – on the edge of the cliffs and high on a spur of a mountain.  The cliff top forts were often built on a narrow peninsula, ensuring that walls were only needed to defend against invaders from land.

Dun Aengus:  is an example of a promontory fort.  It towers 100m above sea level on the atlantic coast on Inishmore Island, Co.Galway.  It is thought that it housed a settlement spanning over 1,000 years so many alterations would have taken place during this time.