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Concept
Fogou
Résumé
A fogou or fougou (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British-defended settlement sites in Cornwall. The original purpose of a fogou is uncertain today. 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. Fewer than 15 confirmed fogous have been found.
Fogous consist of a buried, usually corbelled stone wall, tapering at the top and capped by stone slabs. They were mainly constructed by excavating a sloping trench about wide and 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.
It has been conjectured that they were made as refuges, or for religious purposes, or for food storage.
Fogous' 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. Many are oriented southwest–northeast, with the opening facing the prevailing wind.
Excavated 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.
Iron-age ritual use seems unlikely, given the Celtic druids' known custom of worship in outdoor spaces open to the sky.
Currently, both documentary and subsequent archaeological evidence support their use as refuges, possibly to survive raids, as first suggested by Kenneth MacGregor (2004).
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. They could, however, turn into death-traps if the aggression was prolonged.
Source officielle
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