ABSTRACT
A consideration of the material representation of the Gaelic population in later medieval Ireland must engage directly with an academic conservatism that is associated with 20th-century scholarship. In many respects, the empirical emphasis of the research has been dictated by the fundamental difficulty of recognizing the indigenous dweller (s) in the archaeological record. Throughout the period before c1000 ad, medievalists are content to discuss the dispersed settlement pattern that is richly endowed with a consistent range of primary settlement forms. Medievalists wrestle with a traditional classification system of field monuments that really does not easily recognize ‘native’ forms of settlement, other than the more obvious documented continuities witnessed in larger monasteries and in port towns. The dominant position of the ringfort in the settlement’s wider topography suggests that this was a location of primary importance throug.
