UTV Newsdesk WEDNESDAY 06/06/2007
Hill of Tara in world's top 100 endangered heritage sites
Ireland's ancient Hill of Tara, once the seat of the high kings, was today named one of the world's 100 most endangered heritage sites.
The New York-based World Monument Fund placed Tara on its crisis list after campaigns and court battles failed to reroute a controversial motorway away from it. Since 1965, the body has saved 420 irreplaceable sites around the world, including the ancient Buddhist temple of Preah Khan at Angkor, Cambodia, built in 1191.
The planned M3 runs through the heart of the Tara Skryne valley in Co Meath, 1.5 miles from where 142 kings are said to have once reigned. Opponents have claimed the road, in particular a 34 acre (4000m sq) floodlit intersection north of the hill, will ruin the landscape and destroy many archaeological sites. In May a massive ancient pagan temple the size of three football fields was unearthed near Lismullen after earth movers began stripping back the soil. The henge has been designated National Monument status dating back to the late Bronze Age/Iron Age. The site is being examined by archaeologists from the National Museum but it is not clear if it will be saved.
Dr Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, Campaign to Save Tara spokeswoman, said the decision to list Tara will pile further pressure on the Government to rethink the potentially disastrous route selection. "The Government ignored the 2005 statement that was signed by 350 academics from all over the world," she said. "Perhaps at this, the 11th hour, the Government in waiting will listen to the concerns of the world about the status of Tara and re-route." Dr Ni Bhrolchain, lecturer in Celtic Studies at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, also questioned the accuracy of archaeological examinations carried out in the Tara-Skryne valley. Archaeologists warn the nine-mile stretch of motorway will see at least 28 sites and monuments being excavated. The National Roads Authority which is managing the project have claimed the new motorway route would be twice as far from Tara as the current Dublin to Navan road. The NRA has claimed it is 1.5 miles from the top of the Hill to the motorway. Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch one of the leading campaign groups against the M3, said: "This really is an appeal to both the Irish Government and people to protect our delicate, unique heritage, which is now confirmed to be under the gravest threat."
Work on the M3 was due to begin in summer 2006 but due to unforeseen archaeological discoveries, particularly the henge at Lismullen, full construction is yet to begin along the controversial stretch between Navan and Dunshaughlin. Dr Ron Hicks, of the department of archaeology, Ball State University, Indiana endorsed the nomination to the 100 most endangered sites. Announced every two years, the list is compiled to bring international attention to threatened cultural heritage sites. About 75% of sites placed on the list have been saved or are in the process of being saved. The 2006 list included a famine era "Wonderful Barn", in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
Irish Times - Friday 4 May 2007
Tara monument may have been royal site
Elaine Keogh Archaeologists believe the new monument discovered along the planned
route of the M3 motorway may have been a royal site, probably used for
open-air rituals at the same time that similar ceremonies would have
taken place on the Hill of Tara just 2km (1.2 miles) away.
It is a late prehistoric circular enclosure, but unlike similar
enclosures at Emain Macha, seat of the kings of Ulster, in Co Armagh,
and Tara, which had many phases of building and rebuilding, this new
site seems to represent just a single period of use for such rituals.
Why this is the case is one of the many questions the discovery has
raised. Radiocarbon dating will reveal later this month how old it is;
it is believed to be from the late Bronze Age/Iron Age.
The outer circle is about 80m in diameter and it lies across what would
be the northbound lane of the €850 million motorway.
The future of the site, and particularly whether archaeologists will be
told to excavate it, is in the hands of the Minister for the
Environment, Dick Roche.
During a guided tour of the site for the media yesterday, about a dozen
members of the Campaign to Save Tara group arrived and hung large
banners calling for the road to be re-routed.
"We believe the Government is not prepared to accept the significance of
what has been found here," said its spokesman Michael Canney. The
protesters took pictures and video footage of the site and one woman
claimed there was a "cover-up" of the find.
The Department of the Environment denied claims that the Minister has
made a decision and said yesterday the process was ongoing. It is
understood Mr Roche is awaiting a response on the find from the director
of the National Museum, Pat Wallace, which is expected to come today.
Senior archaeologist with the National Roads Authority Mary Deevy said
there were a number of factors which hint at the likelihood that the
site was of great significance and potentially a national monument.
The first discovery was an arc of stakeholes which had once held wooden
poles. This led to further work and the discovery of a large outer
circle of stakeholes.
Archaeologists then found signs of an east-facing entrance and a smaller
enclosure within the larger one. It is an exact circle with closely
spaced stakeholes. The site is at the bottom of a natural basin and does
not appear to have been roofed.
"It didn't appear to be defensive, was perfectly circular - we checked
that on computer - and there is this circular enclosure perfectly
centred in the middle of the larger one. When we put the plan of the
enclosure together and looked at it, it was like 'Eureka!'," said Ms Deevy.
"It reminds us of Emain Macha and Dún Ailinne, which are major royal
sites. They are sister sites of Tara where there was millennia of
activity. This site is different, it is very simple but appears to have
been built just once and we can't say how long it was here for," she added.
The discovery marks the conclusion of nearly two years of archaeological
work on the planned route of the motorway.
BBC News, Wednesday, 3 May 2007
'Ancient site motorway' is halted
Work on the controversial M3 motorway in County Meath near Tara has been halted after the discovery of a highly significant archaeological find.
The project has been bitterly opposed by environmental campaigners.
They are opposed to the route because of its proximity to the historic
sites of Tara and Skryne.
The find is thought to be the size of several football fields and is a
circular structure used possibly for ceremonies in ancient times.
On Monday, Irish Transport Minister Martin Cullen turned the first sod
on the huge motorway project.
However, only one day later it has been halted by Environment Minister
Dick Roche
Environmentalists and historians warned that the Hill of Tara and its
ancient burial site in County Meath was too important to be tampered with.
The M3 is set to be built near the existing Enniskillen to Dublin road,
which can be gridlocked at peak times.
The National Roads Authority had argued that the motorway was needed
because it can currently take up to two hours to travel the 25 miles
between Navan and Dublin.
However, some historians objected to its route past an area which they
view as a treasure trove of archaeological finds and Ireland's
equivalent of the Egyptian Valley of the Dead.
Tara, known as Temair, was once the ancient seat of power in Ireland -
142 kings are said to have reigned there in prehistoric and historic times.
In ancient Irish religion and mythology Temair was the sacred place of
dwelling for the gods, and was the entrance to the otherworld.
Ireland Online: Hill of Tara to be lost under M3,
warn campaigners, 2 May 2007
The site of a massive ancient pagan temple unearthed at one of Europe's most archaeologically significant sites will be buried under a
controversial motorway, campaigners warned tonight.
Fears were growing that the Government is to plough ahead with the
contentious M3 route despite the discovery that has excited heritage
campaigners.
The Government insists it has not decided the future of the major find
near the historic Hill of Tara in Co Meath, uncovered just 24 hours
after Transport Minister Martin Cullen turned the first sod on the project.
While work has been suspended to allow further examination, the
Government is today fending off claims by campaigners that this is
merely a stay of execution for the site.
Environment Minister Dick Roche is consulting National Museum director
Pat Wallace on the best way to proceed.
But Vincent Salafia, an environmentalist and long standing Save-Tara
campaigner, claimed the Government was committed to developing the
motorway regardless of the impact.
He alleged Mr Roche had already taken the decision to demolish the
ancient find - though the minister denied the allegation.
Mr Salafia claimed documentation has already been drafted on the
Government's plans for the site.
“In these directions, Minister Roche directs that the national monument
be preserved 'by record',” he said.
“In other words, excavations will resume in a matter of days, and the
massive enclosure will then be demolished.”
The Irish National Monuments Act allows for the partial or complete
destruction of national monuments, or finds of significant importance,
by the Government if it is deemed to be in the public interest.
The National Museum director is consulted but has no veto over any
Government decision.
A spokesman for the Minister insisted a decision had not been made,
stating consultations between Mr Roche and the National Museum were ongoing.
“Whatever these people (campaigners) are saying is just purely
speculative,” he said.
The newly-discovered large circular enclosure, said to be a Henge
structure, or ancient pagan temple, is thought to be around the size of
three football fields and was used for Iron Age or Bronze Age rituals.
It did not appear on any of the extensive tests carried out in advance
of the motorway project getting the go-ahead.
The Hill of Tara is one of the most important links to ancient Ireland
and one of the most significant archaeological landscapes in Europe.
The site was the seat of Ireland's pre-Christian High Kings and marks
the spot where Irish myth and Irish history intertwine.
With its passage tomb, earthworks and prehistoric burial mounds, it is
viewed as the mythical and ceremonial capital of Ireland, dating back
5,000 years.
Historians have long been baffled by its mysteries, with only partial,
unconnected ruins found to date, leading experts to believe there may be
many more undiscovered treasures.
The controversial proposed M3 motorway is designed to ease the traffic
chaos of towns along the Meath corridor.
Residents in the Dublin dormitory county are all too aware of the great
need to solve the congestion difficulties, with massive tailbacks during
peak times.
Campaigners fought unsuccessfully in the High Court to have the route of
the motorway diverted to avoid the Hill of Tara site.
Conor Newman, Professor of Archaeology at NUI Galway, said he was
pessimistic Government would save the site.
“The campaign to preserve this site has become a legal battle when in
fact it should be an ethical one, whether we value our heritage or not,”
he said.