Hair of the dog: evidence of early medieval food production and feasting at Ballyvass, Co. Kildare

This paper provides a preliminary glimpse of a vibrant community who lived and worked in a ringfort in the townland of Ballyvass, Co. Kildare, during the early medieval period. The site at Ballyvass, 2 km north-west of Castledermot, was on a gravel ridge with a southern aspect in an area known as Burrow Hill (Illus. 1). It was surrounded by agricultural land, with a gravel extraction quarry…