| Knockdhu (500 BC) Ballygally Northern Ireland |
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Very little is known about the Iron Age which succeeded the Bronze Age around 500BC. Some finds indicate a society where the overlords were fairly wealthy, as shown by decorative horsetrappings ans sword-scabbards. It was concluded gollowing a study of Knockdhu (n the Sallagh Braes at Ballyhacket) that this area was the site of one of the most important Celtic Iron Age settlements in Ireland. The district surrounding Knockdhu shows much evidence of Iron Age activity. Nearby at Linford are two ring-ditched barrows. These are low burial mounds surrounded by a circular trench with an outer embankment in which the ashes of the dead were buried in clay urns. Westwards of these barrows are a series of pits with their sides coated in iron suggesting that they were probably iron mines. Knockdhu was once the centre of a market or fair and foreign, as well as local trader, would have been attracted here by the iron industry. Local iron goods would have been exchanged by interested traders for specialised manufactured articles such as horsegear. With Knockdhu the centre of commercial activity local people would have lived in small settlements at the foot of the Sallagh Braes and along the coastline. |
