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Navan Fort

Coordinates:54°20′53″N6°41′50″W/ 54.34806°N 6.69722°W/54.34806; -6.69722
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(Redirected fromEmain Macha)
Not to be confused with the town ofNavaninCounty Meath.

Navan Fort
Navan Fort or Eamhain Mhacha
Navan Fort is located in Northern Ireland
Navan Fort
Location of the site in Northern Ireland
LocationCounty Armagh,Northern Ireland
Coordinates54°20′53″N6°41′50″W/ 54.34806°N 6.69722°W/54.34806; -6.69722

Navan Fort(Old Irish:Emain MachaOld Irish pronunciation:[ˈeṽənʲˈṽaxə];Modern Irish:Eamhain MhachaIrish pronunciation:[ˌəunʲˈwaxə]) is an ancient ceremonial monument nearArmagh,Northern Ireland.According to tradition it was one of the greatroyal sitesof pre-ChristianGaelic Irelandand the capital of theUlaidh.It is a large circular hilltop enclosure—marked by abank and ditch—inside which is a circular mound and the remains of aring barrow.Archeological investigations show that there were once buildings on the site, including a hugeroundhouse-like structure that has been likened to atemple.In a ritual act, this timber structure was filled with stones, deliberately burnt down and then covered with earth to create the mound which stands today. It is believed that Navan was apaganceremonial site and was regarded as a sacred space. It features prominently inIrish mythology,especially in the tales of theUlster Cycle.According to theOxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology,"the [Eamhain Mhacha] of myth and legend is a far grander and mysterious place than archeological excavation supports".[1]

Navan Fort is the heart of the larger 'Navan complex', which also includes the ancient sites ofHaughey's Fort(an earlier hilltop enclosure), theKing's Stables(a manmade ritual pool) and Loughnashade (a natural lake that has yieldedvotive offerings).

The nameEamhain Mhachahas been interpreted as "Macha's twins "or" Macha's brooch ", referring to a local goddess. 'Navan' is an anglicisation of the IrishAn Eamhain.

Name[edit]

The Irish name of Navan Fort isEamhain Mhacha,from Old Irish:Emain Macha.The second element refers to the goddess Macha, for whom nearbyArmagh(Ard Mhacha) is also named. However, the overall meaning of the name is unclear. It has been interpreted as "Macha's twins" or "Macha's pair" (possibly referring to the two features on the hilltop, or to Navan Fort and another nearby monument),[2]or as "Macha'sbrooch"(possibly referring to the shape of the monument). There are tales that try to explain how the name came about. In the second century AD, Greek geographerPtolemynoted a place calledIsamnionsomewhere in southeastern Ulster. Some scholars believe this refers toEmain,and Gregory Toner has derived it fromProto-Celtic*isa-mon( "holy mound" ). Others believe it refers to a place on the coast.[3]

Eamhain Mhacha,and its short formAn Eamhain,was anglicised as 'Owenmagh', 'Nawan' and eventually 'Navan'.[4]

Description[edit]

Navan Fort seen from the outer bank, the 40-metre mound in the background

Navan Fort, sometimes calledNavan Rath,is a State Care Historic Monument in thetownlandof Navan. It is on a low hill about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west ofArmagh(at grid ref. area H847 452).[5]The site consists of a circular enclosure 250 metres (820 feet) in diameter, marked by a large bank and ditch encircling the hill. Theditch is on the inside,suggesting the earthwork was symbolic rather than defensive. Inside the enclosure two monuments are visible. North-west of centre is an earthen mound 40 metres (130 feet) in diameter and 6 metres (20 feet) high. South-east of centre is the circular impression of a ring-barrow, about 30 metres (98 feet) in diameter.[6]

Construction and early history[edit]

Small-scale reconstruction of the circular building that once sat on the site of the mound

Flint tools and shards of pottery show activity at the site in theNeolithic(c. 4000 to 2500 BC).[7]

In the eighth century BC (Bronze Age), aring of timber poleswas raised at the western site, where the high mound now stands. It was 35m in diameter and surrounded by a ring ditch with an eastern entrance.[7]This ditch was 45 metres (148 feet) in diameter, 5 metres (16 feet) wide and 1 metre (3.3 feet) deep. In the fourth century BC (Iron Age) a new wooden structure was built on the same spot. It was a round building attached to a bigger round enclosure, making a figure-of-eight shape, both with eastern entrances. The larger ring of the figure-of-eight was 30 metres (98 feet) in diameter, the smaller about 20 metres (66 feet). The smaller building had ahearth.The structure has been interpreted as aroundhousewith an attached yard or pen, or a building with an attached enclosure for rituals. Finds suggest that at this time the site was occupied by someone of high standing such as a king, chieftain or druid.[7]They include achape,a finely-decorated pin and the skull of aBarbary monkey,which was likely a pet that was either imported or given as a gift.[8]The structure was rebuilt several times over the following centuries.[7]

In the first century BC, a huge timber roundhouse-like structure was built on the same spot. It was 40 metres in diameter and consisted of an outer wall and four inner rings of posts (probably holding up a roof), which circled a huge central pillar.[7]Thisoakpillar has been dated bydendrochronologyto the year 95 BC[6]: 61 and could have stood about 13 metres tall.[9]The building had a western entrance, toward the setting sun, which suggests it was not a dwelling. A ditch and bank were dug around it. There is evidence that the huge ditch and bank that encircles the hill was dug at about the same time.[10]

Not long after it was built, the building was filled with thousands of stones, to a height of nearly 3 metres.[7]This stonecairnwas flat-topped and split into wedges, resembling a spoked wheel when seen from above. There is some evidence that the stones came from an older monument in the area, perhaps a passage tomb.[11]The building was then deliberately burnt down before being covered in a mound of earth. It was made up of many soil types, suggesting that soil was brought from surrounding areas.[11]There is archaeological evidence for similar repeated building and burning atTaraandDún Ailinne.[6]: 24–25 

In the first or second century BC, a figure-of-eight structure was also built at the eastern site. It was similar to those at the western site and may have been built around the same time as the mound.[12]The larger ring was 30 metres (98 feet) in diameter, the smaller about 20 metres (66 feet). This figure-of-eight structure was then cleared away and replaced by another round wooden structure. It was double-walled, had a central hearth and an eastern entrance. Two graves were found just outside the entrance. This structure was in turn replaced by a ring-barrow: a round mound, usually raised over a burial, surrounded by a ditch and bank.[7]

Purpose[edit]

It is believed that the creation of the mound was a ritual act, but its meaning is unclear and there are several theories. The timber building may have been built only as a temporary structure to be burned, or it may have briefly served as atemplebefore its ritual destruction.[10]Scholars suggest that the event was a sacrificial offering to the gods and that the structure was symbolically given to theOtherworldby being ritually burned and buried. Dr Chris Lynn has likened it to the 'wicker man' rite allegedly carried out by theGauls,in which a large wooden effigy is burned with a living sacrifice inside.[7][11]It is thought that the huge outer bank and ditch was made to mark out the hilltop as a sacred space. It could also have been seen as a way of containing the power of the Otherworld within that space.[13]

Dr Richard Warner suggests that the mound was made to be a conduit between this world and the Otherworld.[13]It may be an attempt to replicate an ancientburial mound(sídhe), which were believed to be portals to the Otherworld and the homes of ancestral gods.[11]He believes the mound was made as a platform on which druids would perform ceremonies and on which kings would be crowned, while drawing power and authority from the gods and ancestors.[13]

It is possible that each part of the monument represents something. The stones inside the wooden structure may represent souls in thehouse of the dead,[7]or the souls of fallen warriors in their equivalent ofValhalla.[11]Another theory is that the monument symbolizes a union of thethree main classes of society:druids (the wooden frame), warriors (the stones) and farmers (the soil).[11]The central pillar could also represent theworld pillarorworld treelinking the sky, the earth and the underworld.[11]The radial pattern of the stone cairn may represent thesun wheel,a symbol associated with Celtic sun or sky deities.[11]

Dr Lynn writes: "It seems reasonable to suggest that, in the beginning of the first century BC, Navan was an otherworld place, the home of the gods and goddesses. It was a Celtic tribe's sanctuary, its capitol, its sacred symbol ofsovereigntyand cohesion ".[11]

A recent study used remote sensing (including lidar, photogrammatry, and magnetic gradiometry) to map the site, and found evidence of Iron Age and medieval buildings underground, which co-author Patrick Gleeson says suggests that Navan Fort was "an incredibly important religious center and a place of paramount sacral and cultural authority in later prehistory".[14][15]

In Irish mythology[edit]

Reconstructedroundhouseat the Navan Fort centre

In theUlster CycleofIrish mythology,Emain Macha is the royal capital of theUlaidh,the people who gave their name to the province ofUlster.It is the residence ofConchobar mac Nessa,king of Ulster. He is said to have had a warrior training school at Emain.[16]Conchobar's great hall at Emain was called by medieval writersin Chraebruad(the red-branched or red-poled edifice), and his royal warriors are named the Red Branch Knights in English translations.[17]

Emain Macha is said to have been named afterMacha,who is believed to have been asovereignty goddessof the Ulaidh.[18]One tale says that Macha, queen of the Ulaidh, forced her enemy's sons to dig the great bank-and-ditch after marking it out with her neck-brooch(eomuin), hence the name.[18]In another tale, Macha is the fairy wife ofCrunnchu.Despite promising not to speak of her, Crunnchu boasts that his wife can outrun the king's horses. The king forces the pregnant Macha to race the horses. She wins, but then gives birth to twins on the finish line. Before dying in childbirth, she curses the Ulstermen to be overcome with the exhaustion of childbirth at the time of their greatest need. This is a fore-tale of theTáin Bó Cúailnge(Cattle Raid of Cooley). The name Emain Macha is thus explained as "Macha's twins".[18]

TheAnnals of the Four Masterssays that theThree Collasconquered the area in 331 AD, burning Emain Macha and driving the Ulaidh eastwards over the River Bann. Another tradition is that Emain Macha was destroyed byNiall of the Nine Hostages,or his sons, in the following century.[19]

Many other characters from Irish mythology are associated with Emain Macha, including:

Conservation and tourism[edit]

Entrance to the Navan Fort visitors centre

Until 1985, the site was threatened by the growth of a nearby limestone quarry. Due mostly to the efforts of the activist group Friends of Navan, a public inquiry held that year halted further quarrying, and recommended that Navan be developed for tourism. A visitor centre, featuring artefacts and audio-visual exhibitions, was opened in 1993, but closed in 2001 for lack of funds.[20]It reopened in 2005 after the site was bought byArmagh City and District Council.

Other significant prehistoric sites nearby includeHaughey's Fort,an earlier Bronze Age hill fort two-thirds of a mile (1 km) to the west; theKing's Stables,a manmade pool also dating to the Bronze Age; andLoughnashade,a natural lake which has yielded Iron Age artefacts.

In popular culture[edit]

Eamhain Mhacha is the name of an Irish traditional music group formed in 2008.[21]Irish heavy metal bandWaylanderalso has a song called "Emain Macha" on their 1998 albumReawakening Pride Once Lost.

"Emain Macha" is the name of a place in the computer gamesDark Age of Camelot,[22]MabinogiandThe Bard's Tale.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^MacKillop, James (2004).A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-860967-4.
  2. ^Newman, Conor. "The making of a royal site in early Ireland".The Past in the Past: the Re-use of Ancient Monuments.Edited by Richard Bradley & Howard Williams. Routledge, 1998. p.139
  3. ^Warner, Richard (2013). "Ptolemy's Isamnion promontory: rehabilitation and identification".Emania – Bulletin of the Navan Research Group,Issue 21. pp.21-29
  4. ^Navan, Co Armagh.PlaceNamesNI.
  5. ^"Navan Fort"(PDF).Environment and Heritage Service NI – State Care Historic Monuments.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 22 July 2012.Retrieved3 December2007.
  6. ^abcLynn, Chris (2003).Navan Fort: Archaeology and Myth.Spain: Wordwell Books.ISBN1-869857-67-4.
  7. ^abcdefghiAndy Halpin & Conor Newman.Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600.Oxford University Press, 2006. pp.95-98
  8. ^"A Barbary Ape Skull from Navan Fort, Co. Armagh".Irish Archaeology. 19 May 2014.
  9. ^A New History of Ireland, Vol 1.Oxford University Press, 2005. p.167
  10. ^abJames Patrick Mallory,David Brown &Mike Baillie(1999). "Dating Navan Fort".Antiquity,Volume 73, Issue 280. pp.427-431
  11. ^abcdefghiLynn, Chris. "Navan Fort: Home of Gods and Goddesses?".Archaeology Ireland,Volume 7, Issue 1. 1993. pp.17-21
  12. ^Mallory, James Patrick (2002). "Recent excavations and speculations on the Navan complex".Antiquity,Volume 76, Issue 292. pp.532-541
  13. ^abcWarner, Richard (2000). "Keeping out the Otherworld: The internal ditch at Navan and other Iron Age hengiform enclosures".Emania – Bulletin of the Navan Research Group,Issue 18. pp.39-42
  14. ^Geggel, Laura (5 August 2020)."Massive ancient temple complex may lurk beneath famous Northern Ireland fort".LiveScience.Retrieved7 August2020.
  15. ^Gleeson P, Queen's University Belfast, Others, CitationNeeded (c. 2020). "Citation Needed".Citation Needed.
  16. ^Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí(1991).Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition.Prentice Hall. p. 112.
  17. ^Ó hÓgáin, p.413
  18. ^abcÓ hÓgáin, Dáithí(1991).Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition.Prentice Hall. pp. 284–285.
  19. ^Ring, Trudy (2013).International Dictionary of Historic Places: Northern Europe.Routledge. p. 56.
  20. ^Bender, Barabara (2001). "The Politics of the Past: Emain Macha (Navan), Northern Ireland". In Layton, Robert (ed.).Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property.Routledge.pp.199–209.ISBN0-415-21695-8.
  21. ^"Reels at Fleadh Tullamore 2009".YouTube.
  22. ^Shadows Edge – DAOC – Emain – Dark Age of Camelot New Frontiers Map

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