Revolutionary Archaeological Find: Prehistoric Town Eclipses Viking Legacy in Ireland

Thu Jan 01 2026 20:21:14 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A groundbreaking discovery on a hilltop settlement in Ireland challenges the long-held belief that Vikings established the first towns on the island. This ancient settlement, identified by Dr. Dirk Brandherm's research team, could reshape our understanding of prehistoric urbanization in Ireland.

Archaeologists have unearthed a large hilltop settlement named the Brusselstown Ring, containing over 600 suspected house structures dating back to around 1200 BC. This discovery shines new light on prehistoric urban life and suggests that significant social complexity existed long before the Viking era, challenging the notion that they were the first to build towns in Ireland.

A recently discovered large hilltop settlement could challenge the theory that the Vikings built the first towns in Ireland, a researcher has said.

Dr Dirk Brandherm and his colleagues have identified more than 600 suspected houses in the Brusselstown Ring making it, to date, the largest nucleated settlement ever discovered in the entirety of prehistoric Britain and Ireland.

The settlement, which is thought to have emerged at about 1200 BC (the Late Bronze Age), is located within a region called the Baltinglass Hillfort Cluster in the south-western edge of the Wicklow Mountains.

It is among the 13 large hilltop enclosures spread across the mountain range where there are structures dating back to the Neolithic period and Early Bronze Age.

The findings were recently published within Antiquity, a peer-reviewed journal of world archaeology. The study highlights the exceptional size and complexity of the Brusselstown Ring, suggesting it could represent a unique case of early urbanization.

Dr Brandherm, a reader in prehistoric archaeology at Queen's University Belfast, noted the significance of discovering a large number of roundhouses clustered together, challenging previous assumptions that the Bronze Age settlements were only small hamlets. This finding paints a new picture of societal development on the island, indicating the presence of complex community structures long before the Viking era.

The discovery raises intriguing questions about the early inhabitants of Ireland and their sociopolitical structures, suggesting that infrastructures akin to towns may have existed well before the arrival of the Vikings.

The research focuses on identifying and verifying the various components of this prehistoric settlement, including the architectural styles of house platforms and the significance of a recently uncovered water cistern, a feature that, if confirmed, would mark a first in Ireland.

Moving forward, additional excavations and analyses are planned to further probe the site's historical context, possibly reshaping the archaeological narrative of ancient Ireland.