They could, however, turn into death-traps if the aggression was prolonged." Cold storage hypothesis Īlthough in their present damp condition, use for food storage seems impractical, Diodorus Siculus stated that Iron Age people in Britain stored their grain in "underground repositories", adding contemporary evidence to speculation that their main purpose was food storage.
Nancy Edwards wrote that "evidence would support this: Creeps, hidden chambers, and sally ports, as well as the fact that most sonterrains were invisible above ground, would all have helped to provide protection in the case of sudden attack. Refuge hypothesis Ĭurrently, both documentary and subsequent archaeological evidence support their use as refuges, possibly to survive raids, as first suggested by Kenneth MacGregor (2004). Iron-age ritual use seems unlikely, given the Celtic druids' known custom of worship in outdoor spaces open to the sky. Many are oriented southwest–northeast, with the opening facing the prevailing wind.Įxcavated examples at Halliggye, Carn Euny, and Boden suggest fogous may have been deliberately filled back in after use, or upon abandonment of the surrounding settlement. įogous' central locations inside settlements and the work that evidently went into constructing them indicates their importance to the community, but their original purpose is no longer known. It has been conjectured that they were made as refuges, or for religious purposes, or for food storage. They were mainly constructed by excavating a sloping trench about 5 ft (1.5 m) wide and 6 ft (1.8 m) deep, lining it with drystone walling as stated, which was battered inwards and roofed with flat slabs soil from excavation was heaped on top as at Pendeen Vau or incorporated in the rampart of the enclosure as at Halliggye Fogou, Trelowarren. Fewer than 15 confirmed fogous have been found.įogous consist of a buried, usually corbelled stone wall, tapering at the top and capped by stone slabs. Colloquially called vugs, vows, foggos, giant holts, or fuggy holes in various dialects, fogous have similarities with souterrains or earth-houses of northern Europe and particularly Scotland, including Orkney. The original purpose of a fogou is uncertain today. A view inside the fogou at Carn Euny in 1868.Ī fogou or fougou (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British-defended settlement sites in Cornwall.
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