- Chapter Thirty-Three -
Figure 33.10 Multivallate hill-fort, Mooghaun, Co. Clare. (Photo: D.D.C. Pochin-Mould.)concerning their dating and purpose remain open. Increasingly, however, it seems
that it was during the later Bronze Age that hillfort construction became widespread.
At Haughey's Fort in Armagh such dating was clearly established (Mallory 1988) and
at Rathgall, Co. Wicklow, it is likely that hill-fort construction began in the same
period (Raftery 1976). Several other hilltop sites have produced later bronze age
remains. While a few have also produced evidence of occupation during the later
phases of the Iron Age (e.g. Raftery 1969), in no case has the actual construction of
a hill-fort during this period been demonstrated.
The immediate relevance of the hill-fort for a study of the Irish Iron Age is thus
not clear and it must be admitted that further excavations may radically alter the
present picture. It is, however, interesting to note the significantly southern concen-
tration of hill-forts in areas where La Tene remains are virtually absent. Thus
it would appear that the hill-fort in Ireland has little, if anything, to do with the
cultural horizon represented by the La Tene metalwork.
This leads, of course, to one of the greatest problems concerning a study of the
Irish Iron Age. With La Tene all but non-existent in the south what is there in the
archaeological record to represent cultural developments there in the last centuries
Be? The answer is, we do not yet know. Hill-forts may one day supply the answer
but for the moment we can only assume that in the south, as elsewhere, an Iron Age
existed but one wholly devoid of La Tene characteristics.