Some of you may have heard about the ongoing situation at the site of Tara,
in Ireland. This site is of major importance in Irish prehistory, having
been the focus of ritual activity for 5000 years. In the Iron Age, it was a
major center of ceremonial activity, and one of the places where kings were
made in Celtic Ireland.
There is more about the site below, but the essence of the situation is
that the Irish government are building a highway through the area, despite
archaeological protest, and in the process a new site of major importance
has been found. Since there is a danger that the roadway will continue and
the site will not be preserved, we are trying to galvanize archaeological
opinion in the U.S. to protest. We are asking you to let us know if you are
willing to have your signature added to the letter (find below). If so,
please send Emily Weglian ([log in to unmask]) an email with your name
and professional affiliation, indicating your support, and she will send it
on to the relevant people. We only have a short window of opportunity, so
we are asking you to please respond by Wednesday, May 9, at 5:00 EST.
We will be sending this letter to the Irish Times, the Irish Independent,
the Washington Post, the New York Times, and any Irish government officials
whose addresses we can locate. If you have other suggestions, please feel
free to send those along.
Please send this on to anyone else you can think of who might be interested
in signing it
Thanks for your help.
Susan Johnston, George Washington University
Emily Weglian, Cuyahoga Community College
p.s. While preparing this, we came across the following story (see the
second letter down). It’s only a snippet, and you have to be registered to
read the whole thing, but it should convince this you that is a serious
threat to Ireland’s archaeological heritage!
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/index.php3?ca=53&issue_id=15602
The letter reads as follows:
We the undersigned would like to add our voices to those who are concerned
about the recent discovery of an ancient Celtic structure along the path of
the M3 motorway as it passes close to the Hill of Tara. From the
description that has been circulated, it is clearly of singular importance,
documenting the ancient ritual life of the people who lived around Tara,
and also the connections between those people and others who celebrated in
similar structures in Leinster, Ulster, and Connacht. Not only does it add
to the vision of Tara, where people have been celebrating their lives and
burying their dead for 5000 years, but it also shows how much Ireland was
one people, with similar rites happening throughout the island during all
that time. As such, it rivals places in the New World like Tikal, Monte
Alban, Machu Picchu, Pueblo Bonito, the Great Serpent Mound, Cahokia, or
indeed Stonehenge, in both cultural and spiritual importance.
The National Roads Authority was told that such sites would be encountered
but seemingly refused to listen, secure in the apparent knowledge that all
could be taken care of with prior survey. But this site shows that they
were wrong. They were told that Tara wasn’t just a site, but a landscape, a
complex of monuments that, in combination with the topography, place names,
mythology, and history make this a uniquely well-preserved place of truly
international importance. It will suffer irrevocable damage if this road
continues. It is bitterly ironic that this landscape has survived to the
present due to careful custodianship in the past, based on thorough-going
understanding and sensitivity, and it seems short-sighted, ill-conceived,
and indeed arrogant, to think that we will be doing less than our
predecessors.
Now is the time to re-think the path of this motorway. Is it really the
only path that it can take? We join Irish archaeologists and the general
public in asking the Irish government to halt what is tantamount to the
destruction of Ireland’s archaeological heritage. An archaeological site of
this importance warrants the re-routing of a motorway and some sort of
guarantee for its continued survival in the future. Stop and consider
before you go any further, and destroy what those who came before us had
the wisdom to preserve.
Dr. Susan A. Johnston, George Washington University
Dr. Emily J. Weglian, Cuyahoga Community College
Tara and the M3: background.
The history of the motorway to be built around it is long and complex:
http://hilloftara.blogspot.com/2006_12_31_archive.html
The short version is that, after soliciting opinions from many different
segments of society, the government decided to go ahead with a route that
passes within a kilometer or two of the hill itself. While it avoids the
central part of the site (the Hill of Tara), Tara is actually part of an
extensive ritual complex in a landscape literally packed with prehistoric
features. The following link shows relevant maps:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/archaeology/Tara_M3.html
Most recently, literally 24 hours after beginning construction, a major site
was uncovered:
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=218091166&p=zy8x9y87z
Dr. Conor Newman, an archaeologist at the National University of Ireland in
Galway, gave an interview to NPR in the U.S. where he explains the
significance of the site. You can hear it at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10011926
There is a significant danger of this site not being preserved, but instead
only recorded, and roadwork will continue.
--
Dr. Emily J. Weglian
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