ringfort

A ringfort is a circular or oval fortified enclosure, typically built on the ground and defined by an earthen bank and ditch that surround a central area, often with one or more dwellings inside. The best known examples are in Ireland, where they are called ráth or lios and usually date to the early medieval period (roughly 5th–12th centuries); similar circular earthworks occur elsewhere in Europe, with local variations.

Construction commonly features a single bank and ditch, sometimes with a stone revetment or multiple concentric banks. Inside is a courtyard that may contain timber or wattle-and-daub houses. Many ringforts also include souterrains, underground storage chambers, and some have accessible entrances via a causeway.

Rationale and use are debated, but ringforts are generally regarded as farmsteads or small communities that required defense, asserted landholding, and served as sites for daily domestic life. They may have housed families, workers, and livestock, with crops stored within the enclosure.

Today, ringforts survive as earthworks and are often protected as monuments. Archaeological investigations have revealed domestic artifacts, pottery, and occasionally signs of craft or trade, contributing to understanding of rural life in early medieval Ireland and, more broadly, western Europe.