Emain Macha

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Navan Fort should not be confused with Navan in County Meath.

Emain Macha, (Old Irish /ˈeṽanʲ ˈṽaxa/, Emuin Macha, Modern Irish Eamhain Mhacha /ˈawnʲ ˈwaxə/, Emania) known in English as Navan Fort, is an ancient monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An 18 acre (73,000 m²) Bronze Age hill fort, it also contains an Iron Age earthen mound 40m (130 feet) in diameter. According to Irish mythology and historical tradition it was the capital of the Ulaid, the people who gave their name to the province of Ulster. It was supposedly founded by the goddess Macha in the 5th or 7th century BC, and was the seat of Conchobar mac Nessa in the tales of the Ulster Cycle. The Annals of the Four Masters record that it was abandoned after it was burned by the Three Collas in 331 AD, after they had defeated Fergus Foga, king of Ulster, in battle.

When the circular mound on top of the hill was excavated, it was discovered that, in 95 BC (securely dated by dendrochronology), a circular structure was built, 40 metres in diameter, with four concentric rings of posts around a central oak trunk. Its entrance faced west (prehistoric houses in the British Isles invariably face east, towards the sunrise). The floor of the building was covered with stones arranged in radial segments, and the whole edifice was deliberately burnt to the ground before being covered in a mound of earth and turf. The bank and ditch that surround the hilltop were built at the same time. Curiously the ditch is inside the bank – if it was a defensive rampart the ditch would be expected to be outside the bank to give the defenders maximum height advantage over any attackers. This would lead one to think it was rather designed to keep something in, not out. There is archaeological evidence for similar repeated construction and immolation of Temuir and the Dún Ailinne, according to Ronald Hutton (Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, 1991).

Also found in Iron Age layers was the skull of a barbary ape.

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