Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
All of these ring forts have the same basic features. The circular drystone walls
were built sometime between 500
b
.
c
. and
a
.
d
. 300 without the aid of mortar or ce-
ment. About 80 feet across, with walls 12 feet thick at the base and up to 25 feet
high, these brutish structures would have taken 100 men six months to complete.
Expert opinion is divided on the reason they were built, but most believe that the
people who built them would have retreated here at times of tribal war. As this was
an era when civilization was morphing from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled
farmers, herders used these forts. They likely brought their valuable cattle inside to
protect them from ancient rustlers. Other experts see the round design as a kind of
amphitheater, where local clan chieftains would have gathered for important meet-
ings or rituals. However, the ditch surrounding the outer walls of Staigue Fort sug-
gests a defensive, rather than ceremonial, function. Without written records, we can
only imagine the part these magnificent piles of finely stacked stones played in an-
cient dramas.
