Emain Macha
Navan Fort should not be confused with Navan in County Meath.Emain Macha, (Old Irish ,
Emuin Macha, Modern Irish
Eamhain Mhacha ,
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 â€" 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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