These enclosures, known variously as raths or ringforts, were the dominant form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from the sixth to the tenth century. A raised bank of earth, sometimes reinforced with a ditch, defined a farmstead where a family would have kept their animals and conducted the routines of daily life. Tens of thousands of them survive across the island, yet each one occupies its own particular ground, shaped by the contours and character of its specific place.