Archaeologists Uncover County's 'First Capital (Cork, Ireland - 1200BC)

Irish Examiner ^ | 8-21-2007 | Sean O'Riordan

[blam]

Archaeologists uncover county’s ‘first capital’

By Sean O’Riordan
21 August 2007

ARCHAEOLOGISTS believe they have discovered what may have been Cork’s ancient capital, built 3,200 years ago at a time when Rameses III was pharaoh of Egypt.

A team of archaeologists from UCC, led by Professor William O’Brien, have carried out extensive research that sheds new light on what is the largest prehistoric monument in Co Cork and the oldest dated ringfort in the country.

Their three-year project, funded by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social

Sciences and the Royal Irish Academy, shows that huge wooden defence walls once surrounded the ringfort at Knockavilla, near Innishannon.

Radiocarbon dating shows that the ringfort was constructed about 1200BC confirming it as the oldest known prehistoric ringfort in Ireland, according to Prof O’Brien. This puts its importance on a par with prehistoric sites such as Dún Aengus on Inishmore and Mooghaun, Co Clare.

Archaeologists have concluded that several thousand timber posts surrounded the ancient structure, known as the “cathair”, which enclosed nearly 20 acres — enough space for today’s developers to construct about 300 houses.

It would have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of people to construct it and may have been built in a matter of months.

“The antiquity and immense size of this monument suggests that it was one of the most important prehistoric settlements in the south-west region, and arguably Cork’s first capital,” said Prof O’Brien.

The outer defence walls had a perimeter of more than one kilometre and were built with wattle fencing. These were erected behind a dug-out ditch defence.

The inner timber defence, built entirely of solid oak, was 800m at its perimeter.

Archaeologists discovered evidence that part of the inner palisade fence had been burnt, which Prof O’Brien and his team believe “was a deliberate act of war”.

The people who built the ringfort may have been slaughtered.

At any rate their kingdom seems to have disintegrated as no efforts were made to repair the fort and it was never inhabited again.

[blam]

Probably the work of my R1b relatives.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Red Badger]

I’m sure some of my ancestors may have been there, too. Probably inside the fort.........

[Just mythoughts]

If I am correct this would have been Biblically speaking around Gideon’s time... Interesting post...

[ASA Vet]

Probably the work of my R1b relatives.

Well they did apologize, so alls well now.

[LachlanMinnesota]

And in the center of the fort was a pub with several pints aligned in the tap room...ready to be enjoyed, as though they were just put there. Some things, thank goodness, are not changed by the passage of time.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[PistolPaknMama]

I was in Cork some years ago when they were celebrating its 800th anniversary. Maybe they will re-date the town now by a few hundred years.

[Renfield]

GGG ping--

Footprint extends Egypt’s prehistoric frontier

(World's oldest human footprint found?)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20360598/

CAIRO, Egypt - Archaeologists have found what they said could be the world’s oldest human footprint in Egypt’s western desert, the country’s antiquities chief said Monday.

“This could go back about 2 million years,” said Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. “It could be the most important discovery in Egypt.”

Archaeologists found the footprint, imprinted on mud and then hardened into rock, while exploring a prehistoric site in Siwa, a desert oasis.

Scientists are using carbon tests on plants found in the rock to determine its exact age, Hawass said.

Khaled Saad, the director of prehistory at the council, said that based on the age of the rock where the footprint was found, it could date back even further than the renowned 3-million year-old fossil Lucy, the partial skeleton of an early hominid found in Ethiopia in 1974.

Most archaeological interest in Egypt is focused on the time of the pharaohs.

Previously, the earliest human archaeological evidence from Egypt dated back around 200,000 years, Saad said.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1884029/posts

other prints:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873114/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1881639/posts

[ElkGroveDan]

which enclosed nearly 20 acres — enough space for today’s developers to construct about 300 houses.

That's about 2900 square feet per lot. Now I know why they call their backyards "gardens" over there.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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