Archaeology Field Trip #1: West Cork!!
Ok ok soooooo
Hellooooo From Ireland!!
This last friday.... was... my first field trip with my Archaeology Early Start programme and I have to say --- It was awesome!
We visited four different Archaeological Sites within the Area and... WHOO. They were cool. I think I'm falling in love with archaeology! Haha
The first we visited was Garranes Ringfort...
This is a large, multi-vallate ringfort that was excavated in the 1930s and then again in 1991-3. (Ringforts are early medieval monument types!) This specific ringfort was probably the ROYAL seat of the Eoganchacht Raithleann! They were the Kings of Munster...!! (Munster is Southern Ireland)
It has three rings to it (The more rings the more important and high status) and in the center of the middle ring, they found post-hole evidence suggesting that the royal family had houses in the middle of the ringfort -- that it wasn't mainly for defense, it had residential purposes too!
I almost kind of.. (knowing me), killed myself jumping off of one of the raised mound rings into the ditch... But it was definitely awesome. It was also in this wooded area too, so very VERY pretty!
Heres a picture from the inner-most ring of the ringfort. =)
It was raining... so there are water droplets on the photo..but...you can sort of see the bank and ditch in the lower part of the picture!
Heres another...! :)
This one (also with water drops) is my friends from class jumping into the ditch. The one I almost killed myself in! Good Times! =D
The second stop of the day was....
Ballinacarriga Tower House!
Tower houses were ... Medieval Castles, per say. They were usually built on higher ground and had may defensive features added to them like arrow slots and murder holes! (Wouldn't want to be standing underneath one of them!)
Here's a picture of the tower house with a good picture of the muder hole!
Murder Hole and Defense Windows. Also just the front of the Tower House
That part at the top of the wall with the two stones sticking out - thats the murder hole! It's positioned right above the entrance to the tower house so if unwanted people wanted to get in, all the owner would have to do is drop things on them! You can also see how the sidows are wider on the outside and more narrow on the inside... This allows for archers be protected from enemy arrows but have a wide range of aim for themselves! Very effective.
There's a sceond murder hole type of structure thats sticking out of the wall as well, this would have served the same purpose, just a little less direct.
Heres a picture of the tower house from the bottom of the hill:
Top of the tower house!
The winding stairs back down....ooOoOooOo
Next stop...
Coppinger's Court! :D
Coppinger's Court isa four-story semi-fortified house built in c.1616 by Sir Walter Coppinger. The house has features such as a central block flanked by two towers on the east side and on in the centre to the west, mullioned windows surviving on the top floor on the west side, well preserved chimneys and remains of a bawn wall!
Not all of the house is safe to walk it, especially near the chimneys... they were kind of leaning over and Tomas (Arch Teacher) didn't feel safe having us walk near it.
I love looking at the ruins of old stone sites because the plants just grow back over the stones and I think it makes it look so pretty!! :D
Here are some pictures!
Crumbled away wall and moss and weeds growing over it... which, like I said, I think is beautiful :)
Manor House from a distance
One of the rooms we were forbidden to go in.
Last stop of this fieldtrip...
Drombeg: Stone Circle and Fulachta Fiadh!
(probably my favourite of them all!)
Drombeg Stone Circle:::
Drombeg is one of the most impressive stone circles of the Cork/Kerry group of stone circles, this one has 17 standing stones, including two portal stones and an axial stone. Its aligned on the setting sun of the winter solstice, Dec. 21st. I wish I could have gone this year --- my friends did! Though, it was overcast, so they didn't see the shadows anyway...
Touching one of the stones.. it might have been the stone that represents the male/female form. There was two. Haha, anyways
My Mother would have killed me if she was with me! (You'd have to read this book to understand..and I don't remember the name...haha)
Me being stupid in front of the stone circle, haha. Whats new?
The Circle from a distance.. just down the path!
The Stone Circle in its full form.
The lower, longer/wider stone in the front of the picture is the axial stone I mentioned earlier.
Directly across the cirlce from it are the two 'Portal Stones' that lead you into the circle.
Fulachta Fiadh:::
West of the stone circle are the remains of a Fulachta Fiadh and two connected circular huts ---- one of which contains the remains of what is interpreted as a roasting oven.
A Fulachta Fiadh is a way travelling warriors could (very long time ago) basically cook fish. They would heat stones up over a fire, throw them into the well in the Fulachta Fiadh, make the water boil, and then wrap the fish in grass and such and put it in the water till it was cooked! Pretty clever, huh?
Some like to think it was used for brewing beers and such and as a sauna, but those are the less likely (much less likely) of the theories.
Pictures!!:::
The Fulachta Fiadh!! You can see the well inside and some of the stones surrounding were the ones used to boil the water!
Tomas (lecturer) standing in the house ruins telling us about them. You can see the outline of the smaller room and the bigger room. (hint: he's standing in the bigger circle)
Ok well,
thats all I have from my lovely first field trip!!
I can't wait till the next one!!
Until then...
Tabhair Aire! (Take care)
and
Slan go foill! (Goodbye for now)
Caroline ^.^
Hellooooo From Ireland!!
This last friday.... was... my first field trip with my Archaeology Early Start programme and I have to say --- It was awesome!
We visited four different Archaeological Sites within the Area and... WHOO. They were cool. I think I'm falling in love with archaeology! Haha
The first we visited was Garranes Ringfort...
This is a large, multi-vallate ringfort that was excavated in the 1930s and then again in 1991-3. (Ringforts are early medieval monument types!) This specific ringfort was probably the ROYAL seat of the Eoganchacht Raithleann! They were the Kings of Munster...!! (Munster is Southern Ireland)
It has three rings to it (The more rings the more important and high status) and in the center of the middle ring, they found post-hole evidence suggesting that the royal family had houses in the middle of the ringfort -- that it wasn't mainly for defense, it had residential purposes too!
I almost kind of.. (knowing me), killed myself jumping off of one of the raised mound rings into the ditch... But it was definitely awesome. It was also in this wooded area too, so very VERY pretty!
Heres a picture from the inner-most ring of the ringfort. =)
It was raining... so there are water droplets on the photo..but...you can sort of see the bank and ditch in the lower part of the picture!
Heres another...! :)
This one (also with water drops) is my friends from class jumping into the ditch. The one I almost killed myself in! Good Times! =D
The second stop of the day was....
Ballinacarriga Tower House!
Tower houses were ... Medieval Castles, per say. They were usually built on higher ground and had may defensive features added to them like arrow slots and murder holes! (Wouldn't want to be standing underneath one of them!)
Here's a picture of the tower house with a good picture of the muder hole!
Murder Hole and Defense Windows. Also just the front of the Tower House
That part at the top of the wall with the two stones sticking out - thats the murder hole! It's positioned right above the entrance to the tower house so if unwanted people wanted to get in, all the owner would have to do is drop things on them! You can also see how the sidows are wider on the outside and more narrow on the inside... This allows for archers be protected from enemy arrows but have a wide range of aim for themselves! Very effective.
There's a sceond murder hole type of structure thats sticking out of the wall as well, this would have served the same purpose, just a little less direct.
Heres a picture of the tower house from the bottom of the hill:
Top of the tower house!
The winding stairs back down....ooOoOooOo
Next stop...
Coppinger's Court! :D
Coppinger's Court isa four-story semi-fortified house built in c.1616 by Sir Walter Coppinger. The house has features such as a central block flanked by two towers on the east side and on in the centre to the west, mullioned windows surviving on the top floor on the west side, well preserved chimneys and remains of a bawn wall!
Not all of the house is safe to walk it, especially near the chimneys... they were kind of leaning over and Tomas (Arch Teacher) didn't feel safe having us walk near it.
I love looking at the ruins of old stone sites because the plants just grow back over the stones and I think it makes it look so pretty!! :D
Here are some pictures!
Crumbled away wall and moss and weeds growing over it... which, like I said, I think is beautiful :)
Manor House from a distance
One of the rooms we were forbidden to go in.
Last stop of this fieldtrip...
Drombeg: Stone Circle and Fulachta Fiadh!
(probably my favourite of them all!)
Drombeg Stone Circle:::
Drombeg is one of the most impressive stone circles of the Cork/Kerry group of stone circles, this one has 17 standing stones, including two portal stones and an axial stone. Its aligned on the setting sun of the winter solstice, Dec. 21st. I wish I could have gone this year --- my friends did! Though, it was overcast, so they didn't see the shadows anyway...
Touching one of the stones.. it might have been the stone that represents the male/female form. There was two. Haha, anyways
My Mother would have killed me if she was with me! (You'd have to read this book to understand..and I don't remember the name...haha)
Me being stupid in front of the stone circle, haha. Whats new?
The Circle from a distance.. just down the path!
The Stone Circle in its full form.
The lower, longer/wider stone in the front of the picture is the axial stone I mentioned earlier.
Directly across the cirlce from it are the two 'Portal Stones' that lead you into the circle.
Fulachta Fiadh:::
West of the stone circle are the remains of a Fulachta Fiadh and two connected circular huts ---- one of which contains the remains of what is interpreted as a roasting oven.
A Fulachta Fiadh is a way travelling warriors could (very long time ago) basically cook fish. They would heat stones up over a fire, throw them into the well in the Fulachta Fiadh, make the water boil, and then wrap the fish in grass and such and put it in the water till it was cooked! Pretty clever, huh?
Some like to think it was used for brewing beers and such and as a sauna, but those are the less likely (much less likely) of the theories.
Pictures!!:::
The Fulachta Fiadh!! You can see the well inside and some of the stones surrounding were the ones used to boil the water!
Tomas (lecturer) standing in the house ruins telling us about them. You can see the outline of the smaller room and the bigger room. (hint: he's standing in the bigger circle)
Ok well,
thats all I have from my lovely first field trip!!
I can't wait till the next one!!
Until then...
Tabhair Aire! (Take care)
and
Slan go foill! (Goodbye for now)
Caroline ^.^