Press Release. Campaign to Save Tara,
5th. April 2007.

Site at Lismullin excavated with indecent haste

The Campaign to Save Tara wishes to commiserate with An Taisce after the High Court refused its case on the M3. As this case unfolded, the Campaign has received reports coming in about the archaeological site at Lismullin on the proposed route of the M3. There is grave concern that it is being excavated with indecent haste. The report of the NRA originally described this site as "eleven pit features and linear features", now it is a huge site that is expanding daily, stretching as it does from the Rath Lugh complex to the bridge over the legendary Gabhra river at the back of Lismullin House.

The Campaign has heard that the number of archaeologists will soon reach 100 and that the time limit for excavation is one month. It is not possible to complete serious archaeological work on such a massive area with complicated features in that space of time. The work methods include mechanical diggers taking feet of topsoil and depositing this in spoil heaps that contain archaeology (pottery for example). These heaps are not examined, they are traversed by these huge machines that crush any possible deposits.

The NRA has constantly down-graded the sites on the chosen route. This was of such concern to the Director of the National Museum that he said the NRA's description of Roestown: "amounts to the re-definition of a monument type in non-monument terms" (16th. March 2005). Roestown was shown to contain spectacular souterrains and a high-class habitation site with rich finds.

Even a casual observer of the digs on the route will now see that they can be described as a mosaic of sites radiating from Tara, a complex of contiguous areas, some only 100 yards apart. This bears out what C. Newman, J. Fenwick and E. Bhreathnach said in a statement (March 2004): "the central ceremonial complex on the hill was surrounded by settlements, religious monuments, ceremonial entrances and route-ways and strategically-placed fortifications". The Director of the National Museum stated: "Taken together, this group of monuments constitute an archaeological and cultural landscape".

But Brian Duffy, Chief State Archaeologist, denies the existence of a landscape: "These monuments cannot be considered to be part of some greater Tara monument". However, this is the same person who stated in the same document: "It could be argued that the M3 will be a monument of major significance in the future..." (December 2004).

The Campaign to Save Tara maintains that these sites are all part of the Tara landscape and that the entire Gabhra Valley is a National Monument. These sites should not be considered individually but as one continuous complex.

Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin said on behalf of the Campaign: "This is salvage archaeology. Why does Lismullin have to be excavated in a month? The road will take years to build. The methods used are akin to 'smash and grab' and sites such as this will be seriously compromised by this type of open cast archaeology".

ENDS

Media queries:
Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin
Tel: 087-9249510
Michael Canney
Tel: 086-8528200
E-Mail: info@savetara.com
Web site: http://www.savetara.com

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