Dún Aonghasa (Unofficial anglicised version Dun Aengus)Placenames Database of Ireland
/ref> is the best-known of several prehistoric

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s on the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony of Aran i ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It lies on Inis Mór, at the edge of a cliff. A popular tourist attraction, ''Dún Aonghasa'' is an important archaeological site.

History

It is not known exactly when ''Dún Aonghasa'' was built, though it is now thought that most of the structures date from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. T. F. O'Rahilly surmised in what is known as O'Rahilly's historical model that it was built in the 2nd century BC by the

Builg Builg is the name given to an ancient people who may have lived in southern Ireland, around the modern city of Cork. According to the historical scheme proposed by T. F. O'Rahilly the Builg are identical with or a sub-group of the Érainn or I ...

following the Laginian conquest of

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and ...

. Excavations at the site indicate that the first construction goes back to 1100 BC, when rubble was piled against large upright stones to form the first enclosure. Around 500 BC, the triple wall defenses were probably constructed along the fort's western side. The 19th-century artist George Petrie called "Dún Aonghasa" "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe".George Petrie
/ref> Its name, meaning "Fort of Aonghas", may refer to the pre-Christian god of the same name described in

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later Early Irish ...

, or the mythical king, Aonghus mac Úmhór. It has thus traditionally been associated with the Fir Bolg.

Form and function

The fort consists of a series of four concentric walls of

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...

construction, built on a high cliff some one hundred metres above the sea. At the time of its construction sea levels were considerably lower and a recent Radio Telefis Eireann documentary estimates that originally it was 1000 metres from the sea. Surviving stonework is four metres wide at some points. The original shape was presumably oval or D-shaped but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea. Outside the third ring of walls lies a defensive system of stone slabs, known as a cheval de frise, planted in an upright position in the ground and still largely well-preserved. These ruins also feature a huge rectangular stone slab, the function of which is unknown. Impressively large among prehistoric ruins, the outermost wall of ''Dún Aonghasa'' encloses an area of approximately 6 hectares (14 acres).

Today

The walls of ''Dún Aonghasa'' have been rebuilt to a height of 6m and have wall walks, chambers, and flights of stairs. The restoration is easily distinguished from the original construction by the use of mortar. There is a small museum illustrating the history of the fort and its possible functions. Also in the vicinity is a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

tomb and a small heritage park featuring examples of a traditional

thatched cottage Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk o ...

and an illegal poteen distillery.

Nearby sites

Dún Dúchathair Dún Dúchathair or simply Dúchathair (anglicized Doocaher), meaning "black fort", is a large stone fort on the cliffs at Cill Éinne, (Killeany), Inishmore (one of the Aran Islands) in County Galway, Ireland. Due to erosion, it now sits on a ro ...

'' ("Black Stone

Ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wale ...

"), ''Dún Eoghanachta'' ("Fort of the Eóganachta"), and ''Dún Eochla'' are similar prehistoric sites on Inis Mór. ''Dún Chonchúir'' ("Fort of

Conchobar ( is an old and famous Irish male name meaning "lover of canines". It is the source of the Irish names Conor, Connor, Connors, Conner, O'Connor, etc. It is a name borne by several figures from Irish history and legend, including: * Conchobar ...

") is located on nearby

Inis Meáin Inishmaan ( ; ga, Inis Meáin , the official name, formerly spelled , meaning "middle island") is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. It is part of County Galway in the province of Connacht. ...

Image gallery

Dun Eochla Interior.jpg, Interior of Dún Eochla Dún Aonghusa 2, looking down.JPG Inishmore Central.jpg, A view over the

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

landscape on Inis Mór from Dún Aonghasa Dun Aonghasa-cheval de frise.jpg, Cheval de frise on the west side of Dún Aonghasa Aran cliffs.jpg, alt=Black and white photograph taken on the cliffs at Dun Aonghasa in the Aran Islands, The cliffs at Dún Aonghasa in the Aran Islands

References

External links

Short YouTube video of the Dun Aengus cliff face

Dun Aengus website

Dun Aengus page for the Aran Islands website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dun Aonghasa Forts in the Republic of Ireland Hill forts in Ireland Archaeological sites in County Galway Aran Islands National Monuments in County Galway Former populated places in Ireland