Navan Fort is one of a complex of monuments located to the west of Armagh city. The main mound and enclosure are open to visitors.
This area features in mythology such as the Táin Bó Cuailgne (Cattle Raid of Cooley) and other tales involving Cú Chulainn. In this tales the site is referred to as Eamhain Macha. This had indicated that the site had significance in the early medieval period but its prehistoric importance was unproven.
Believed to be indicated on Ptolemy’s Map (possibly based on 2nd century BC sources) as ‘Isamnion’ which is an earlier form of ‘Eamhain’ (from which it is derived by syncopation – with syllables being lost: I(s)AM(ni)ON becomes IAMON, or Eamhain).
Modern intensive research has indicated that a number of sites are present in the area including Haughey’s Fort, a Late Bronze Age hillfort. A number of sections were excavated across the lines of the ramparts by Prof. Jim Mallory of Queen's University Belfast (see various papers in the journal Emania).
Only the ditches survived as no traces of banks were recorded. The ditch was waterlogged allowing for the survival of wooden finds and other organic material. Traces of three concentric ditches have been recorded, although it is not clear if each completed a full circuit.
Investigation of the interior produced evidence of various pits and postholes suggesting there were structures within the innermost ditch.
Finds from the interior include bronze rings, a gold stud and a fragment of the handle of a decorated bronze vessel.There was also a stone with rock art from pit in the interior.
Other sites in the Navan complex include the King’s Stables, an artificial pool of similar date to Haughey's Fort.
At Tamlaght, at the edge of an area of swamp, a hoard of an Irish Late Bronze Age sword and two central European sheet bronze vessels was found.
Navan Fort
itself was excavated by Dudley Waterman
1963-72, later by Jim Mallory and Chris LynnThe overall diameter of the main enclosure is 286 m and a number of internal sites are visible: Ringditch (Site A) and Mound (Site B). Geophysics indicated a 30 m diameter double circle (between Sites A and B), known as Site C.
The morphology of the enclosure is unusual in that the bank is on the outside of the ditch. This is typical of other sites of similar date (Iron Age) and status (remembered as 'royal' sites in the 7th and 8th century AD).
Jim Mallory carried out excavations on the site in the late 1990s and and found an oak that dated to 95 BC.
Site A
Excavation indicated a complex history (see here for plans etc).
Basic Phasing:
(Phase A) – a series of structures with concentric slot trenches (diameters 16.6 m, 18.8 m and 20.3 m), postholes survive in the inner slot. No evidence of entrance. Associated finds include coarse pottery, charcoal suggested a date of 4th century BC to 1st century AD.
(Phase B) - again structures with concentric slot trenches, with a 2 m wide gap. Entrance to the east, large central posthole – slots and posthole cut outer slot of Phase A structure but not the inner slots – part of the same building as the inner slots or a later feature?
Two extended inhumation burials outside the Phase B structure, one in a nailed coffin and are no doubt later in date.
A 5.5 m wide and 2 m deep ditch was opened across site A, enclosing an area 37 m in diameter, with some traces of an external bank. A terminal of a bronze brooch of 9th/10th century AD was recovered from 0.90 m above the base of the ditch.
Site C
This was subsequently investigated by Chris Lynn in 2001.
Site B
Phase 1: scatters of pottery, flint, three polished stone axe fragments.
Phase 2: episode of ploughing
Phase 3: three subdivisions (Phase 3i; 3ii; 3iii).
3i: circular ditch, 5 m wide and 1 m deep, enclosing an area 45 m in diameter (cobbled causeway to the east). Large ring of posts, 4 m apart, 4-5 m inside the line of the ditch. Available dates are 1600-1200 BC for the posts and 900-550 BC for the ditch.
Phase 3i: circular ditch, 5 m wide and 1 m deep, enclosing an area 45 m in diameter (cobbled causeway to the east). Large ring of posts, 4 m apart, 4-5 m inside the line of the ditch. Available dates are 1600-1200 BC for the posts and 900-550 BC for the ditch.Phase 3: three subdivisions (Phase 3i; 3ii; 3iii).
Phase 3ii: complex sequence of timber structures.
Phase 3iii: last set of ring slots, date 200-95 BC.
Finds from Phase 3 include sherds of coarse ware, shale armlets, glass beads, a bronze bar toggle, a fragment of a winged chape, part of a socketed bronze sickle, a tiny socketed bronze axe and a bronze pin with a spiral-ribbed head; clay mould fragments, iron objects, ring-headed pin, and a Barbary Ape skull (ring slot C2., dated to 390-20 BC).
Animal bone: twice as much pig as cattle, little sheep or goat.
Phase 4: A 40 metre circular structure was erected (the central post was dated to 95-94 BC).
Phase 5: A mound of stones was erected over the 40 m structure.
Navan Fort has broad parallels with sites like Knockaulin (Dun Ailinne) which was excavated by Bernard Wailes (see here
). Also features at Tara and Rathcroghan.
