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Dig into the Story in Amplify Archaeology Podcast Episode 44 with Christine Baker

Underneath the quiet fields on the headland of Drumanagh in North County Dublin, lies a truly exciting story. This headland is home to one of the most important promontory forts in Ireland, where an innovative community archaeology programme is uncovering connections between Iron Age Ireland and the Roman World. Lead archaeologist Christine Baker tells us all about it in this episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast.

A collection of early records of Cors y Gedol that we found during our research.

View of stones from the north east. Original negative captioned ‘Frendraught Stone Circle Remains from the North East June 1915’.

A collation of our research on Gwal-Y-Filiast, including all the earliest records of the site as well as legends associated with the name.

Excavations at the findspot of the Deskford carnyx, a major piece of Iron Age decorated metalwork found in a bog in the early nineteenth century, revealed a special location with a long history. Early Neolithic activity on the adjacent ridge consisted of massive postholes and pits, suggesting a ceremonial site. An Early Bronze Age cremation became the focus for a feasting event in the Middle Bronze Age. Around this time, peat began to form in the valley, with vessels of pot and wood smashed and deposited there; these activities on ridge and bog may be connected. Activity in the bog intensified in the later Iron Age, when offerings included quartz pebbles, the dismantled carnyx head, and two unusual animal bone deposits. The ridge was cut off at this period by a complex enclosure system. This Iron Age activity is interpreted as communal rituals at a time of increasing social tension. The site’s significance in this period may stem from its unusual landscape character, with flowing water to one side and a bog to the other. The area saw occasional activity in the Early Medieval period, but its significance had waned.

Great all round photos of the superb fort.

Very decent photographs of the site with less or hardly any vegetation.

Abstract
Geological research reveals that Stonehenge’s stones come from sources beyond Salisbury Plain, as recently demonstrated by the Altar Stone’s origins in northern Scotland more than 700 km away. Even Stonehenge’s huge sarsen stones come from 24 km to the north, while the bluestones can be sourced to the region of the Preseli Hills some 225 km away in west Wales. The six-tonne Altar Stone is of Old Red Sandstone from the Orcadian Basin, an area that extends from the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland to Inverness and eastwards to Banff, Turriff and Rhynie. Its geochemical composition does not match that of rocks in the Northern Isles, so it can be identified as coming from the Scottish mainland. Its position at Stonehenge as a recumbent stone within the southwest arc of the monument, at the foot of the two tallest uprights of the Great Trilithon, recalls the plans of recumbent stone circles of north-east Scotland. Unusually strong similarities in house floor layouts between Late Neolithic houses in Orkney and the Durrington Walls settlement near Stonehenge also provide evidence of close connections between Salisbury Plain and northern Scotland. Such connections may be best explained through Stonehenge’s construction as a monument of island-wide unification, embodied in part through the distant and diverse origins of its stones.

A short article about the Fogou and the presence of Goblin’s Gold (Schistostega pennata) on its walls.

A long blogpost by David C. Weinczok for National Museums Scotland about Kilmartin Glen

Searchable map for Northern Ireland prehistoric (and other) sites.

Curiously, although it’s “up to 5 metres high” this mound doesn’t get a mention on the current OS map. But an archaeologist visited it in 2022 and their photos show it to be quite visible and large. It was called ‘Grass Law’ on the 1855 map.

Chris Maguire’s site has a description of what was found inside the cairn – in the 1930s workmen were dismantling it to make roads from the stones! You’ll be pleased to hear it’s a protected monument now.

In 2005 Caroline Wilkinson recreated the face of one of the men interred here. The article says few complete skulls from the Neolithic have been found in Wales.

I see the cairn might not be the easiest spot to find – but maybe that helped preserve it, as archaeologists didn’t seem to be aware of it until the 1970s.

We’ve compiled together all the research we have covering Trellyffaint and the curious tale of the toads…

Coflein link with the stone as depicted by JC Young in one of her 1980s standing stone ‘portraits’. Don’t think she would have had any trouble with subjects getting fidgety

For those who fancy a real deep dive, the Resources at the foot of this page include a comprehensive site report from 2017.

An in depth look at the archaeology and legends associated with the site.

Details of the excavations that took place at Foel Drygarn … plus lots more info

This blog post contains details of the excavation that took place here in the 1950s

Stone Free: a quarter of scheduled monuments off-limits in England

Lovely piece from Texlahoma in TGO following up the BBC article from the other week.

A fascinating account of the most recent excavations (2011-2012). As we have long suspected, the enormous stone in the centre of the forecourt was placed there and probably formed a key focal point of the monument. There was also another buried dolmen unearthed right next to the capstone.