Hillforts, Warfare and Society in Bronze Age Ireland

The later part of the Bronze Age (1500-700 BC) was a time of settlement expansion and economic prosperity in Ireland.This was a landscape of small autonomous farming communities, but there is also evidence for control of territory and population, involving centralized organization of trade and economy, ritual and military force.That concentration of power was connected to the emergence of chiefdom polities active in the consolidation of large regional territories.Their competitive tendencies led on occasion to conflict and warfare, at a time of growing militarism evident in the mass production of bronze weaponry, including the first use of swords.Hillforts are another manifestation of a warrior culture that emerged not only in Ireland but across Europe during the Middle and Late Bronze Age.They were centers for high-status residence, ceremony and assembly, and represented an important visual display of power in the landscape.This is the first project to study hillforts in relation to w