NEW FIND NEAR HILL OF
TARA
Madam, - 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 5,000 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 such as 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, placenames, 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 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.
- Yours, etc,
Dr. SUSAN A. JOHNSTON,
Department of Anthropology, George Washington University,
Washington DC
Dr. EMILY J. WEGLIAN, Department
of Anthropology, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland,
Ohio, USA.
Dr Genevieve Fisher, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.
Dr David Valentine, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.
Dr Martha J. Tappen, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.
Andrea J. Torgerson, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.
Jeffery L. Adams, Peabody Museum
of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Matthew Hunstiger, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.
Alexandra Moyer, Department of
Anthropology, University of Minnesota.
Dr Velana Huntington, Department
of Anthropology, University of Iowa.
Dr Carol S. Franklin, Dean of
Social Science, Cuyahoga Community College.
Dr Clare
Wilkinson-Weber,Department of Anthropology,
Washington State University, Vancouver.
Greg Bailey,University of
Bristol.
Gretchen Anderson,Science Museum
of Minnesota.
Stacey Camp, Department of
Social and Cultural Anthropology, Stanford
University.
Dr Ronald Hicks, Ball State
University.
Dr Charles E. Orser, Jr,
Department of Anthropology, Illinois State
University.
Dr Melanie Fillios, University
of Sydney.
Dr Bettina Arnold, Department of
Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Wendy J. Bacon, Department of
Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
© The Irish Times, 10th. May 2007.
