PURPLE REIGN AT ROYAL RINGFORT

High-status' ancient site made prized seashell dye

- BY CILLIAN SHERLOCK

A RINGFORT overlooking Galway Bay has been confirmed as a settlement for rulers and nobles in Ireland's Early Medieval period, according to archaeologists.

Rathgurreen Ringfort, in the Maree area of Co Galway, has been described as a "high-status' settlement that could date anywhere from the 5th to 12th century AD and was involved in making pricey purple dye from seashells.

An eight-week archaeological excavation was directed by Dr Michelle Comber and Dr Noel McCarthy of the Discipline of Archaeology at University of Galway. It has also revealed exciting new layers to the story of the panoramic site with views south to the Burren, west to the Atlantic, and north across Galway.

The ringfort was first investigated and proposed as a high-status settlement - home to a ruler such as a king or lord - by Professor Michael Duignan, then chairman of archaeology at the university, in the late 1940s.