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Dún Aonghasa (anglicized Dun Aengus)〔(Placenames Database of Ireland )〕 is the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Islands of County Galway, Ireland. It is on Inishmore, at the edge of a 100 metre high cliff. A popular tourist attraction, Dún Aonghasa is an important archaeological site that also offers a spectacular view. It is not known when Dún Aonghasa was built, though it is now thought to date from the Iron Age.〔(New Oxford History of Ireland )〕 T. F. O'Rahilly surmised that it was built in the 2nd century BC by the Builg following the Laginian conquest of Connacht.〔 〕 Today we know that the first construction goes back to 1100 BC, when the first enclosure was erected by piling rubble against large upright stones. Around 500 BC, the triple wall defences were probably built along the western side of fort.〔http://heritagecouncil.ie/unpublished_excavations/section11.html〕 The 19th-century artist George Petrie called Dún Aonghasa "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe."〔(George Petrie )〕 Its name, meaning "Fort of Aonghas", refers to the pre-Christian god of the same name described in Irish mythology, or the mythical king, Aonghus mac Úmhór. ==Form and function== The fort consists of a series of four concentric walls of dry stone construction, built on a high cliff some one hundred metres above the sea.〔Robert Gibbings – ''Lovely is the Lee''〕 Surviving stonework is four metres wide at some points. The original shape was presumably oval or D-shaped but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea. Outside the third ring of walls lies a defensive system of stone slabs, known as a cheval de frise, planted in an upright position in the ground and still largely well-preserved. These ruins also feature a huge rectangular stone slab, the function of which is unknown. Impressively large among prehistoric ruins, the outermost wall of Dún Aonghasa encloses an area of approximately 6 hectares (14 acres). Although clearly defensible, the particular location of Dún Aonghusa suggests that its primary purpose was religious and ceremonial rather than military. It may have been used for seasonal rites by the druids, perhaps involving the bonfires that could be seen from the mainland of Ireland.〔(Prehistoric Forts )〕 The location also provides a view of as much as 120 km (75 mi) of coastline,〔(Bronze Age Bastion )〕 which may have allowed for control over a coastal trading highway. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dún Aonghasa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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