ROYAL SITES

Navan is one of a number of sites reliably identified as tribal centres which were pre-eminent in the early Irish literature. The others are Dun Ailinne, Co. Kildare, Tara, Co. Meath, and Cruachain, Co. Roscommon. The last, the ancient centre of Connacht, is now an extensive complex of varied earthworks, spread over many acres of countryside. Each of the other three sites consists of a hilltop enclosure formed by a substantial earthen rampart with internal ditch. This defensively illogical feature reinforces the view that such sites were primarily ceremonial. Two - Navan and Dun Ailinne - have been excavated and the results of these investigations have been of great importance for Irish Iron Age studies.

At Navan, near the summit of the hill, two areas of excavation (Sites A and B) uncovered in each instance a complex sequence of overlapping, originally wooden, circular structures (Lynn 1986). Of these the most revealing was that discovered at Site B. Here an earth-covered cairn sealed evidence of activity covering most of the last pre-Christian millennium. Frequently replaced circular huts with attached

Annexes had once stood there and these dated to the later stages of the Bronze Age and the earlier Iron Age. They may have been purely domestic but it is not impossible that already at this period the site had acquired a ritual character. Few would, however, doubt that the great, multi-ringed circular building, which succeeded the annexed structures, was ritual in purpose. This construction (Figure 33.8), which may well have been roofed, was almost 40 m in diameter. It had an outer wall of horizontal planking, four concentric rings of internal posts and a huge central oak which seems to have been the focus of the monument. The latter timber was felled in 95/94 BC (Baillie 1986, 1988). Soon after it was built there are indications of the deliberate firing of this structure and its final, monumental sealing by the 5 m high mound of stones and earth.

All the evidence suggests that this is a temple for there were no traces of normal domestic activity there. Its systematic destruction and careful sealing also strongly support the view that this was a sacred place. The discovery there of the remains of a Barbary ape, transported to Armagh all the way from north Africa, further underlines the exceptional importance of Navan at this time.

Dun Ailinne was the centre of Celtic Leinster. Excavations on the summit of the hill there (Wailes 1990) have also revealed the former existence of large ringed enclosures of timber varying in diameter from 22 m to 37 m. Their dating falls wholly

Figure 33.8 Plan of Phase 4 multi-ringed wooden structure, Navan Fort, Co. Armagh.

Within the Iron Age and their resemblance to the circular constructions at Navan has been noted. There were three main constructional phases. The first was characterized by a single palisade trench, the second, which overlay the former, by three closely spaced concentric trenches, followed finally by a pair of similar trenches. A ring of large, free-standing posts was built within the third phase enclosure and inside this again there was a small circular hut. After the removal of all these timber constructions the hilltop at Dun Ailinne, in its final phase of use, was the scene of successive periods of outdoor feasting.

We can do little more than speculate as to the precise nature of the various phases of activity at Dun Ailinne. The excavator suggested that the ringed enclosures were the settings for ceremonial acts and that In the second and third stages some form of spectators’ platforms may have existed. Whatever the details, however, the exceptional nature of the activities which took place on the hilltop Is clear and few would question that here, as at Navan, we have archaeological indications of ritual happenings.

At Navan and Dun Ailinne archaeology and protohistory begin to merge. Although the details are unclear we can nonetheless begin to visualize those strutting Celtic rulers of the heroic tales engaged In their complex hilltop ceremonies. For theirs was a sacral kingship and correct ritual observance of the seasonal feasts was vital to the well-being of the tribe. The Navan temple, precisely dated to 95/94 BC, gives us a rare indication of the date at which such events were taking place. Dun Ailinne, though less closely dated, undoubtedly overlaps with Navan m time.

These major sites are not the only ones dating to this period. Several of the extensive travelling earthworks which run discontinuously for many kilometres across the country have been shown In recent years to belong to the same chronological horizon as that of the royal sites. The so-called Black Pig’s Dyke m Co. Monaghan (Walsh 1987) and the Dun of Drumsna in Roscommon (Condit and Buckley 1989), for example, have yielded radiocarbon dates placing their construction late in the last pre-Christian millennium. More dramatic, however, is the dendro-chronological evidence from an earthwork known as the Dorsey in south Armagh (Figure 33.9) which yielded oak timbers felled in almost precisely the same year as was the central post at Navan (Baillie 1988). The coincidence seems too great not to Infer some link between the construction of the temple at Navan and the raising of the great earthen rampart at the Dorsey. It may thus be that during the second century BC, particularly its second half, the erection of major communal works reflects a phase of tribal expansion and consolidation on a grand scale. Indeed, it may well be that the enormous labour involved In the building of the Corlea roadway m 148 BC should also be considered in the same context. These are major achievements testifying to significant social organization and strong centralized leadership. It is not impossible that the development and spread of La Tene cultural Influences across the land were related to such events.