Editing Souterrain (section)

{{About||the French film titled ''Souterrain''|Underground (2020 film)}}
{{short description|Underground structure associated mainly with the Atlantic Iron Age}}
[[File:Neolithic souterrain Canna Island.jpg|thumb|Souterrain on [[Canna, Scotland|Canna]] in the [[Hebrides]]]]
[[Image:Killaltarpanojpg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Panoramic view of a souterrain contemporary with a ringfort dating to around 700&nbsp;AD, built within a much earlier barrow cemetery, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland]]
'''''Souterrain''''' (from French ''{{interlanguage link|sous terrain|fr|souterrain}}'', meaning "subterrain", is a name given by [[archaeologist]]s to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic [[Iron Age]].

These structures appear to have been brought northwards from [[Gaul]] during the late Iron Age. Regional names include [[earth house]]s, [[fogou]]s and [[Pict]]ish houses. The term ''souterrain'' has been used as a distinct term from ''fogou'' meaning 'cave'.<ref>Crawford, O. G. S. (1959). ''Antiquity: A Quarterly Review of Archaeology''. Antiquity Publications.</ref> In [[Cornwall]] the regional name of ''fogou'' ([[Cornish language|Cornish]] for 'cave') is applied to souterrain structures.<ref>Thomas, C. (1965). ''Rural Settlement in Roman Britain: Papers Given at a C.B.A. Conference Held at St. Hugh's College, Oxford'', January&nbsp;1&ndash;3, Council for British Archaeology, St. Hugh's College (University of Oxford), 1966, 130&nbsp;pages</ref><ref>''Prehistoric Communities of the British Isles'', 1971, Greenwood Press, 274&nbsp;pages</ref> The design of underground structures has been shown to differ among regions; for example, in western Cornwall the design and function of the fogou appears to correlate with a larder use.<ref>Thomas, C. (1972). ''Souterrains in the Sea Province''. C.B.A. Research Report&nbsp;9</ref>