Provided by the author(s) and University College Dublin Library in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Early Medieval Dwellings and Settlements in Ireland, AD 400-1100: Vol. 1 Text. Authors(s) O'Sullivan, Aidan; McCormick, Finbar; Harney, Lorcan; et al. Publication date 2010-12-01 Publisher The Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/10187 Downloaded 2021-09-24T07:26:06Z The UCD community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters! (@ucd_oa) © Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. EARLY MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT (EMAP) Report 4.2 Early Medieval Dwellings and Settlements in Ireland, AD400-1100 Vol. 1: Text Aidan O'Sullivan, Finbar McCormick, Lorcan Harney, Jonathan Kinsella and Thomas Kerr December 2010 Grant No. AR01055 UCD School of Archaeology Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme 2010 Early Medieval Dwellings and Settlements in Ireland, AD 400-1100 Vol. I: Text By Aidan O’Sullivan, Finbar McCormick, Lorcan Harney, Jonathan Kinsella and Thomas Kerr Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) Report 4.2 December 2010 submitted for Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) programme 2010 Ref: AR01055 1 Contents Chapter One: Introduction ......................................................................................... 7 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 7 A brief historiographical analysis of early medieval settlement excavations in Ireland ................................................................................................................. 8 Origins: University and State‐funded archaeological excavations in the mid‐20th century ........... 8 EU Membership and the origins and development of Commercial Archaeology ........................ 11 The 1990’s: The establishment of new Protective Legislation and Codes of Practice for Archaeological Heritage ................................................................................................................ 12 Digging through the Celtic Tiger boom: the mitigation of Infrastructural and Commercial Projects, c.1995‐2010 ................................................................................................................... 13 Conclusions: changing excavation strategies and the development of the early medieval archaeological resource, 1930-2010 ................................................. 16 Chapter Two: Early Medieval Houses and Buildings in Ireland .............................. 18 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 18 History of Research and Excavation .................................................................. 19 Domestic Houses in Early Medieval Rural Settlement Enclosures .................... 20 Houses in early medieval rural settlement enclosures, c. A.D. 400‐800 ...................................... 20 Houses in early medieval rural settlement enclosures, c. A.D. 800‐1100 .................................... 21 Storage buildings, workshops and outhouses in early medieval enclosed ‘rural’ contexts ............................................................................................................. 22 Sod-Walled Huts and Drystone-Built Clocháns in Western Ireland .................. 23 Houses at Early Medieval Unenclosed Settlements ........................................... 26 Dwellings structures at Coastal Occupations and Shell Midden Sites .............. 28 Caves as Early Medieval ‘Houses’? .................................................................... 29 Souterrains as Places of Underground Habitation, Refuge or Storage, c. 700- 1100? ................................................................................................................. 30 Souterrains and Associated Houses, c. 700‐1100 ......................................................................... 32 Early medieval rural settlement and social and ideological change: the evidence for houses and dwellings in the tenth-twelfth century ..................... 33 Norse Houses and Buildings in Urban and Rural contexts, c.AD 800-1170 ...... 34 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 34 House types in Norse town ........................................................................................................... 35 Possible Norse or Hiberno‐Scandinavian houses and buildings in rural contexts ........................ 38 Hearths, Doorways, Occupation Floors, Beds and Other Furnishings ............... 40 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 40 Table of Contents Hearths and fireplaces: Symbols of the household ...................................................................... 40 Doorways ...................................................................................................................................... 41 Internal furnishings ....................................................................................................................... 41 Occupation floors .......................................................................................................................... 42 Domestic Life: Artefactual and Paleoenvironmental Evidence from Houses .... 42 House Biographies and ‘Special Deposits’ ......................................................... 44 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 44 Foundation deposits ..................................................................................................................... 44 Changing places ............................................................................................................................ 45 Protective or totemic items of the house ..................................................................................... 45 Marking the death of the house or structure ............................................................................... 46 Identifying Houses of Different Social Grades in Early Medieval Ireland ......... 48 Aristocratic Houses: Status and Kingship and early medieval houses .......................................... 48 Dwellings of the ‘middle class’ ...................................................................................................... 49 Dwellings of the poor and unfree ................................................................................................. 50 Domestic Space and Concepts of Privacy .......................................................... 50 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 51 Chapter 2: The organisation and layout of early medieval settlement spaces ..... 52 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 52 Early Medieval Settlement Enclosures .............................................................. 52 Raths, ringforts and cashels .......................................................................................................... 52 Raised and platform settlement enclosures ................................................................................. 53 Crannogs ....................................................................................................................................... 53 Promontory forts .......................................................................................................................... 54 Settlement/Cemeteries................................................................................................................. 54 Defining Early Medieval Settlement Enclosures: Walls, Banks, Ditches, and Palisades ............................................................................................................ 55 Enclosing Walls.............................................................................................................................. 55 Enclosing Banks ............................................................................................................................. 56 Enclosing Ditches .......................................................................................................................... 57 Enclosing wooden palisades, fences and revetments .................................................................. 58 Entrances and Gateways ................................................................................... 60 Controlling Movement: Passageways and Pathways ........................................ 62 The Layout and Organisation of Enclosed Settlement Spaces: Boundaries and Plots ................................................................................................................... 63 Chronology, Change and Cultural Biographies .................................................. 68 2 Table of Contents The Early Medieval Church and Ecclesiastical Settlement Enclosures .............. 71 Defining Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Enclosures – Walls, Banks