County Wicklow: Discovery of settlement could challenge Viking first town theory

The recent discovery of a large hilltop settlement could challenge the theory that Vikings built the first towns in Ireland, a researcher has said.

Dr. Dirk Brandherm and his colleagues discovered more than 600 suspected houses in the Brussels town ring, making it the largest cored settlement ever discovered throughout prehistoric Britain and Ireland.

The settlement is believed to have emerged around 1200 BC (Late Bronze Age) in the Baltinglass Hillfort Cluster area on the southwestern edge of the Wicklow Mountains.

It is one of 13 large hilltop enclosures scattered across the mountains, where structures date back to the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

The findings were recently published in ancient timesa peer-reviewed journal of world archeology.

“Given its exceptional scale, residential density and architectural complexity, the Brussels Ring represents a unique case within the Baltinglass hillfort complex and the wider Atlantic archipelago,” the study states.

The survey has been ongoing for two decades, but researchers believe key questions about the “date, development and function of the enclosure elements and inner settlement” remain unanswered.

Therefore, researchers began test excavation in 2024.

“Existing evidence suggests that their habitation was mainly in the Late Bronze Age, with some continued use or reuse of some house platforms in the Early Iron Age.

“This makes the Ring of Brussels the largest cluster of nucleated settlements in prehistoric Ireland and Britain to date,” the study highlights.

Dr Brandhem, a reader in prehistoric archeology at Queen’s University Belfast, said the Brussels ring was important because of the “numerous number and concentration of roundhouses” in one place.

Archaeologists have the impression that during the Bronze Age settlement structure was based on small villages (one to five dwellings) without villages or towns.

In 2002, during excavations at Corrstown in Northern Ireland, some 74 roundhouses dating back to the Bronze Age were discovered.

Researchers say Colestown was the first village of the era, but the Brussels Ring is a “completely different ball game”.

Researchers say the discovery of the Brussels Ring casts doubt on the idea that the first towns on the island of Ireland were founded by Vikings.

“Because if you have over 600 roundhouses and maybe a large stone-built cistern, it’s not a village anymore,” Dr Brandhem told BBC News NI.

“We’re talking about some kind of primitive town that predates the Vikings by 2,000 years.”

There are two widely spaced ramparts (defensive walls) surrounding the outer shell.

The walls not only surrounded its own summit, but also the nearby Spinasberg 1 – meaning it is one of the very few hillforts in Europe that spans a single mountain.

Through aerial survey and photogrammetry mapping, 98 housing platforms are suspected to be located within the inner perimeter, and more than 500 are located between the two city walls.

“Based on the data we currently have, it appears that all housing platforms date back to the same period,” Dr Brandholm said.

A stone-lined, flat-floored room was also discovered near a trench at the site.

Dr. Brandholm described it as “boat-shaped” and “slightly larger than a round house.”

It appears to have been fed by a stream outcropping in the mountain, and archaeologists believe it may have been a cistern for storing fresh water.

Further samples in the coming months will determine whether the cistern is of the same period as the roundhouse.

He said that if confirmed, the discovery would be a “first for Ireland”, as there were similar structures in France and Spain during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Archaeologists completed four test excavations to understand the site’s purpose.

The diameters of the tests ranged from 6 to 12 m to represent different sizes of house platforms.

The idea was to investigate whether architectural differences in platforms would indicate whether there is social or economic stratification within a community.

Dr. Brandherm said the smaller houses were about 4 to 5 meters in diameter and the larger ones were 11 to 12 m in diameter.

“But the fact that we do have different sizes, you know, begs the question whether there’s some kind of social difference behind this,” he said.

However, Dr. Brandholm said it was impossible to confirm whether a social hierarchy existed in the settlement based on current data.

Prior to this, the largest cluster of ancient settlements was at Mullaghfarna, County Sligo, which is believed to have contained more than 150 houses during the Middle Stone Age, 3300-2900 BC, and the Late Bronze Age, 1200-900 BC.

The study states that future work in the town of Brussels will “focus on confirming the nature and date of the potential cistern, determining the structural characteristics of the prehistoric roundhouse, and determining the nature and chronology of the enclosure elements”.