Craggaunowen also includes a Ring Fort, a true reproduction of a farmer's house, dating from the 4th or 5th century. Ring forts, of which there are about 40,000 examples throughout Ireland, were the standard type of farmstead during the early Christian Period (5th -12th centuries AD).
Within the circular earthen bank or stone walls, the inhabitants carried out their every-day farmyard activities: they cooked over open fires or in pits; corn was ground for making bread or porridge on hand -powered querns; pottery was made and wooden bowls, goblets and platters were turned on pole lathes.
The contemporaries of the people living in Ring forts produced the magnificent artefacts of the Golden Age - the Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch, the Book of Kells, the Derrynaflan Hoard and many other masterpieces.
The Souterrain - An underground passage was designed primarily as food storage areas, ventilated, but draft free, souterrains maintain a constant temperature of around 4 degrees no matter how hot it gets on the surface. They could also be used as places of refuge during attacks on the Ring fort, many souterrains have secondary or tertiary chambers which are difficult to enter, thereby affording their occupants a measure of security.
