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Ancient Irish “Proto-Town” Discovered, Could Rewrite History of Urbanization
County Wicklow, Ireland – A monumental discovery in County Wicklow, Ireland, is poised to reshape our understanding of early urbanization in the region, potentially challenging the long-held belief that the Vikings were the first to establish towns in Ireland. Researchers have unearthed what appears to be a massive hilltop settlement, dubbed Brusselstown Ring, offering compelling evidence of a densely populated community dating back to the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.
Dr. Dirk Brandherm and his team identified over 600 suspected house platforms within the prehistoric hillfort, located on the southwestern edge of the Wicklow Mountains. This finding suggests Brusselstown Ring is the largest nucleated settlement ever discovered across prehistoric Britain and Ireland.
The site, believed to have emerged around 1200 BC, falls squarely within the Late Bronze Age. This timeline directly contradicts previous archaeological assumptions that towns were absent in Ireland during the Bronze Age, with settlements typically comprising only a handful of dwellings.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity, highlights the exceptional nature of Brusselstown Ring. “Given its exceptional size, density of occupation and architectural complexity, Brusselstown Ring represents a unique case within both the Baltinglass hillfort cluster and more widely within the Atlantic Archipelago,” the researchers stated.
While survey work has been ongoing for two decades, test excavations conducted in 2024 provided critical insights, indicating that the site was primarily occupied during the Late Bronze Age, with some structures remaining in use or reused into the Early Iron Age.
Dr. Brandherm emphasized the significance of the discovery, noting the “large number and the concentration of roundhouses” in one location.
He told BBC News, “Because if you’ve got more than 600 roundhouses, and potentially a large stone-built cistern, that’s no longer a village. We’re talking a proto-town of sorts, and that’s 2000 years before the Vikings.”
This groundbreaking revelation not only offers a new perspective on the scale of ancient Irish communities but also opens the door to a re-evaluation of who truly laid the foundations for urban life in Ireland.