Bronze Age, copper, trade, hillforts, early chiefdoms.
This paper will consider the role of trade in the development of hillfort chiefdoms during the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition in Ireland, c.1400–1000 BC. It will consider whether a strong demand for bronze, combined with failing production within Ireland, was a driver of external trade contacts. The role of hillforts in the sourcing and re-distribution of metal is considered, including the management of bronze supply, and the importation of gold and other precious substances. At issue is whether control of bronze supply and trade was a key factor in the accumulation of wealth and influence as a basis of chiefly power. This might explain why hillforts were targeted for destruction during the twelfth and eleventh centuries BC, a period of widespread conflict when warring chiefs may have sought to protect or expand their trade networks.