The Iron Age 500 BC to 400 AD

The Iron Age is the period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterised by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles. The Iron Age as an archaeological term indicates the condition as to civilization and culture of a people using iron as the material for their cutting tools and weapons.   

In historical archaeology, the ancient literature of the Iron Age includes the earliest texts preserved in manuscript tradition. Sanskrit literature and Chinese literature flourished in the Iron Age. The principal feature that distinguishes the Iron Age from the preceding ages is the introduction of alphabetic characters, and the consequent development of written language which enabled literature and historic record.

Iron Age Structures: Before discussing the types of artifacts produced during the Iron Age, it is worth setting the scene with some information on the structures that were in place at the time. The most common form of building were forts. The term fort indicates some sort of defensive structure but it is thought that this is ont necessarily the reason for the existence of these buildings. There are three types:

·         Ring forts

·         Hill forts

·         Promontory (a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water; a headland.) forts

Ring Forts

      

 
 

These forts consist of a bank made of earth surrounding a circular space. In Ireland they are often known by other names such as rath, dun, or cathair. In the east of Ireland the banks are chiefly made of earth, where as in the west where stone ifs more plentiful, stone walls were used to circle the fort. Ring forts were a communal dwelling place, housing a number of small wattle and daub huts. It is likely that the walls or banks were used to defend the people anf animals from wolves and wild animals rather than invaders.  

                                   
 

Tradition claimed that ring forts were "fairy forts" filled with Druids' magic and believers in the fairies did not alter them. The early pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland came to be seen as mythical and were associated with stories of fairies, also known as the "Good People". Fairy forts were seen as entrances to their world. Even cutting brush, especially whitethorn, on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.

There are many folk tales about supernatural events happening at fairy forts. Real accidents which happened at ring forts could be given supernatural explanations. For example a man who tried to blast a dolmen suffered a septic hand. The wrecked dolmen was subsequently left untouched.

    

The destruction of two ‘fairy forts’ in Kilmurry, Co Cork, was punished this year by fines and penalties of €20,000, and followed a €25,000 fine for a farmer in Kerry for the same offence.  These cases show that fairy forts are sacrosanct, protected by cultural traditions entwined within Irish rural life. Sitting in the cab of a JCB, the bucket poised, a nagging doubt or a cold trickle of fear is a definite possibility for the farmer, who might think it safer to just let the land be; after all, a quarter acre is a small sacrifice for peace of mind. As rural Ireland changes, is this self-imposed ban failing? Owen Driscoll is an agricultural consultant in West Cork and has worked with thousands of farmers. Driscoll says this taboo remains. “I think that 99% of farmers would be very slow to cause damage to a fairy fort or even a fairy tree,” he says. “I don’t see any change in that with younger farmers. There is a sense that if you mess with the devil, then he may mess with you. “You will still be told stories of a farmer who damaged a fort or removed a whitethorn tree and then died within a short time, or suffered some other tragedy. For an older generation, the idea that fairies existed went beyond a belief. It was considered absolute fact.” 

 Hill forts:

 

These are plentiful in Ireland and, as the name suggests, are found at the top of hills. A hill fort is a type of earthworks used to secure refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with defensive walls, and external ditches. Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.

  

 Promontory Forts

These forts are found in two locations – on the edges of cliffs and high on a spur of a mountain. A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus utilizing the landscape to reduce the defensive walls needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to date to the Iron Age. They are mainly found in Ireland, the Orkney Islands, the Isle of Man and Cornwall. Only a few Irish promontory forts have been excavated and most date to the Iron Age, though some, like Dunbeg (County Kerry) might have originated in the Bronze Age.

Bog bodies

The mummified remains of a body found in a Laois bog two years ago have been found to date back to 2,000BC, making it the oldest “bog body” discovered anywhere in the world. The 4,000-year-old remains, which predate the famed Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun by nearly 700 years, are those of a young adult male. He is believed to have met a violent death in some sort of ritual sacrifice. The body was unearthed in the Cúl na Móna bog in Cashel in 2011 by a Bord na Móna worker operating a milling machine. Initially, experts thought it dated from the Iron Age period (500BC-400AD), placing it on a par with similar finds in other Irish bogs.

However, radiocarbon tests on the body; the peat on which the body was lying; and a wooden stake found with the body, date the body to the early Bronze Age, around 2,000BC.

The discovery promises to open a new chapter in the archaeological record of Bronze Age burial in Ireland. He said the remains are those of a young adult male which were placed in a crouched position and covered by peat, probably on the surface of the bog.

The man’s arm was broken by a blow and there were deep cuts to his back which appear to have been inflicted by a blade, which indicate a violent death, Mr Kelly said. Mr Kelly believes the wounds on the body, combined with the fact that it was marked by wooden stakes and placed in proximity to an inauguration site, point to the individual being the victim of a ritual sacrifice. “It seems to be same type of ritual that we’ve observed in later Iron Age finds. What’s surprising here is that it’s so much earlier.” Because of the lack of calluses on the hands and the well-groomed fingernails observed in other finds, though not this one as the hands were not recoverable, Mr Kelly suggests the victims were most likely “high-born”. “We believe that the victims of these ritual killings are kings that have failed in their kingship and have been sacrificed as a consequence.” The chemical composition of bogs can preserve human bodies for thousands of years. Archaeologists have discovered more than 100 ancient bodies in Irish bogs but few as well-preserved as “Cashel man”.

The Arrival of the Celts

As the Bronze Age in Ireland drew to a close, there appeared in Ireland a new cultural influence. Developing in the Alps of central Europe, the Celts spread their culture across modern-day Germany and France and into the Balkans as far as Turkey. They arrived in Britain and Ireland around 500BC and within a few hundred years, Ireland's Bronze Age culture had all but disappeared, and Celtic culture was in place across the entire island.

Iron had been introduced to the Celtic peoples in Europe around 1000BC to 700BC, thus giving them the technological edge to spread as they did. Iron was a far superior metal to bronze, being stronger and more durable. On the other hand, it required much hotter fires to extract it from its ore and so it took a fair degree of skill to use iron. None of this is to be taken to mean that bronze fell out of use. Rather, iron simply became an alternative metal and many bronze objects have been found that were made in the Iron Age.

Everyday Life in Celtic Ireland:

Much of what we know about specifically Irish culture has come down through the years in the form of Heroic Tales, such as the Ulster Cycle which tells of the exploits of Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. Once thought to be historically unreliable, these Heroic Tales describe a way of life that fits well with what we now know about the Celts of mainland Europe. Thus it seems that, while the events described may have been embellished over the years, the underlying themes and props in the stories may be accurate descriptions of life in Iron Age Ireland.

It was, in many ways, a culture based around war. Ireland was divided into dozens - possibly hundreds - of little kingdoms. Within the kingdoms, it was the blacksmiths, druids and poets who were held in high esteem: the blacksmiths for making the weapons of war, the druids for making prophesies and soothsaying (the art or practice of foretelling events), and the poets for putting the exploits of warriors to verse, to be sung around the cooking fires. The aristocracy (a form of government in which power is in the hands of a small, privileged, ruling class) in this culture was made up of the warriors, who sought fame and recognition by doing battle with their enemies. The young warrior would be initiated by mounting his chariot (a two wheeled wooden cart pulled by two horses), before proceeding to battle and cutting off the heads of his enemies to bring them home as trophies. At the celebratory banquet afterwards, the warriors would compete for the "hero's portion" of the food being served. The weapons brandished by these warriors consisted of round wooden, bronze or iron shields, with iron spears or swords. The spear seems to have been more common than the sword.

        

Brehon Law 

The law that the Celts of Ireland used has been called Brehon law. Forms of Brehon Law were used in Ireland for hundreds of years. The idea was that a person's identity was defined by the kingdom in which they lived. A peasant had no legal status outside the tuath, with the exception of men of art and learning. Those who were tied to their tuath were unfree and worked for the king. All land was owned by families, not by individuals. Wealth was measured in cattle, and each individual had a status measured in terms of wealth. Almost any crime committed against an individual could be recompensed by paying a fine equal to the status of the individual. For example, a 50 cows for an important person, 3 cows for a peasant. There was no death penalty; but, an individual could be ostracised from the tuath in certain circumstances.