Findings from the Haughey's Fort Excavation
On July 2 at 12:31 PM, researchers revealed that Haughey's Fort, located near Armagh in Northern Ireland, served as the focal point of a meticulously planned Late Bronze Age landscape. A team led by Dr. James O'Driscoll of the University of Glasgow and Dr. Patrick Gleeson of Queen's University Belfast uncovered over 200 wooden structures, massive circular buildings up to 30 meters in diameter, and evidence of bronze and gold working. The study covers a period starting around 1200 BCE.
During their work, the researchers found proof of numerous domestic buildings, highlighting the settlement's enormous scale and organization. Dr. James O'Driscoll stated:
“Our research reveals a level of scale, organization, and connectivity in Bronze Age Ireland that has not been fully recognized until now. The data from Haughey's Fort points to a large, densely populated settlement where craft production, exchange, and communal activities were tightly integrated.” - James O'Driscoll
The study also points to imported goods indicating connections with the Iberian Peninsula and Central Europe. “In the broader Western European context, this places Haughey's Fort among the most striking examples of a proto-urban center, showing that large, organized settlements began to emerge around 3,000 years ago,” added Dr. O'Driscoll.
Dr. Patrick Gleeson emphasized the significance of the discovery, noting:
“The research clearly shows that we are not looking at isolated monuments, but a single, highly organized landscape. Our work demonstrates that Haughey's Fort, the Navan Fort, and the Creveroe earthworks were part of an interconnected system, carefully structured to integrate settlement, production, and ritual.” - Patrick Gleeson
These findings open new avenues for understanding social organization and economic networks in Bronze Age Ireland. The discovery of such a vast array of archaeological evidence at Haughey's Fort confirms the site's importance in the region's history, demonstrating that these settlements had complex structures and active economic ties extending beyond the local context.