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Booleying huts

  • 20-11-2024 10:45pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,705 ✭✭✭


    I'm finding that, reading bits and pieces about archaeology online, there seems to be "trends" of things that are talked about more at different times. Right now it seems cursus-es (or cursii or whatever the plural form is 😁) and booleying huts are all the rage.

    My question is, for round shaped booleying huts, how can one tell whether they are booleying huts or bronze age huts? I see a lot of low to the ground circular stone work remnants (in images online) that all look the same to me, whether bronze age huts on Dartmoor or what is designated a booleying hut in Galway.

    I think there is this luminescence kind of testing done on soils below walls occasionally undertaken that can date the soils, but failing that, how can one determine when a stone hut of either kind was built?

    I just can't seem to find any determining architectural features of either in any readings and/or videos on the subject.

    Thanks 🙂



Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,705 ✭✭✭Mountainsandh


    For those interested who simply do not know, like me, I have found a very interesting paper on booleying huts, which also details characteristics of early medieval (and other time periods) huts.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2024.2397863?src=exp-la#d1e1442

    It would appear, although not definitively, that circular huts tend to be earlier in date, while rectangular and sub rectangular huts are more recent. I also learned that orthostats at the entrance are likely to indicate an early medieval date, which is good to know for satellite imagery identification. (I have no education in archaeology whatsoever, so finding such information is new and important to me). I'm reading between the lines here, but it also appears that booleying huts would have no well defined hearth, although obviously fires were lit and kept, on interior floor flagstones.

    I am concerned about it all because I am looking at an area with possible/pretty likely evidence of booleying imo, and I am reporting monuments, while I have been told by NMS that they would normally not record post-1700s monuments. It would be a shame not to record and protect some of the structures I am looking at, and I bet there would be a lot to learn from excavating some of those. If they are ruled out from the outset due to classification as booleying huts, then a lot of heritage could be lost. Thankfully NMS indicated that this policy is "under review" so to speak.

    Also, there are significant prehistoric sites recorded near the area I am reporting, so there's that to add to the mix.



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 61,196 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gremlinertia


    Interesting, new to me too, thank you for the worm hole to disappear in 😉



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