A Hillfort through Time: Excavations at Rathgall, Co. Wicklow

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 422

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REVIEW BY JAMES O’DRISCOLL

It is safe to say that I, and many others interested in the later prehistory of Ireland, have been waiting for this book for decades. This volume documents the excavations undertaken at the multivallate hillfort of Rathgall, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, by Professor Barry Raftery in the 1970s, and presents a comprehensive post-excavation programme, all of which was brought together by Dr Katharina Becker after Barry’s passing. The work firmly establishes the site as a foundational element in the study of the Irish Bronze Age.

With Barry’s excellent recording and archival notes, the artefactual assemblage has allowed Katharina and specialist contributors to contextualise their importance some 50 years after the excavations concluded. Among them, the largest assemblages of Bronze Age ceramics and moulds in Ireland have allowed the authors to identify distinct areas of craft production within the hillfort. Alongside this, the volume presents evidence for burial practice and a monumental 15m wooden structure within the hillfort, with more recent geophysical survey inferring that much more extensive areas of craftworking and other activity may be present at the site, beyond the limits of the excavation. More broad-scale discussions of Rathgall, such as its place within Irish hillfort studies or the wider context of Atlantic European hillforts, however, are notably brief.

This book presents the largest set of radiocarbon dates associated with an Irish hillfort too: some 75 dates, the large majority revealing intense activity occurring between 1200-1000 BC, with much more limited evidence for Iron Age and early medieval use. With more dates, comes more complexity and contention, and additional work is needed to comprehensively date the construction of the hillfort’s enclosing elements, better to correlate these with the significant activities occurring within the site – though current evidence suggests these are likely to be contemporary.

Barry’s pioneering role in the study of Irish hillforts is firmly reinforced in this volume, and it should sit alongside his other great contributions to solidify his legacy as a pillar of Irish archaeology. Katharina and the other contributing authors should be commended for putting together a seminal book that was worth the wait!

A Hillfort through Time: Excavations at Rathgall, Co. Wicklow
Barry Raftery and Katharina Becker
Wordwell (€75)
ISBN 978-191393477-4