New survey of Dun Ailinne
The arrival of Dr Susan Johnston to carry out a geophysical survey on Dun Ailinne over the next couple of weeks starts another chapter in an archaeological local history story.
"I've known Bernard since I was a child, because my father -- also an anthropologist -- taught at the same University of Pennsylvania," she told the Diary this weekend. "I always thought his work should be published in a book form, and convinced him to do so over recent years."
That work, which mostly involved clarifying and amplifying some of the detail from what had already been written, is essentially finished. The text is with editors, and currently is being matched with drawings and photographs. Publication is anticipated for next spring, and is being grant-aided by the Irish Government.
"We began work on it in 2002 and it worked out well, because when I came across something which wasn't clear to me, he was able to recall immediately more information. But working on it prompted me to take a further look at the site, and build on what was done."
Susan is 'fascinated' that Dun Ailinne hasn't been given the same attention as the other main royal sites in Ireland, such as Tara and Navan Fort, because in many respects it is larger and was clearly of great importance. Almost twice as big as the 'Rath na Ri' at Tara, for instance.
"In comparison, it is actually a huge site. About five percent has been excavated, so 95 percent of it is still unknown. I knew that Conor Newman and Joe Fenwick from NUI Galway had carried out geophysical surveys at Tara and Ardrahan and they had gotten amazing results."
The process they used involves measurements of electrical resistance and magnetic 'signatures' to build up a picture of structure remains such as ditches and walls buried under the ground. "You take measurements every so often over an area, and if the conditions are right you get some really good results."
The advantage of the methods are that they are non-destructive of the site being measured, and if successful can pinpoint sections where it would be profitable to excavate.
"The downside is that they don't know the difference between a ten-year-old ditch and a 5,000-year-old one. But at least you get to know there's a ditch there."
Of course, there is a possibility that it doesn't work at all. "It requires certain conditions to work properly, and if it doesn't you still don't know whether it didn't show anything because there is nothing there, or simply because it failed."
So the new survey of Dun Ailinne will begin at the end point of the old excavations, which showed an entrance 'funnel' of two ditches.
"The odds are highly unlikely that the funnel didn't finish at the end point of the excavation. The idea is that we begin a little further back where we know that the ditches were. If we can pick those out, then it will demonstrate that the system works on the site, and we can fan out from there and see what we encounter."
The equipment is being provided by Conor Newman and Joe Fenwick from NUI Galway. They are also providing two students from the university to help with the operation. Two visiting archaeologists from New York University include Professor Pam Crabtree who actually worked on the original excavations with Bernard Wailes in 1972 when she was an undergraduate, and has studied in detail the more than 18,000 bone fragments discovered on Dun Ailinne during those digs.
"One thing that really interests me is the fact that the temple ceremony structure at Dun Ailinne is tiny, and the rest of the site is a huge empty space," Susan says. "Was it really empty, though, because they could put huge numbers of people there, or did the gods take up a lot of space? Or was it in fact full of buildings, or used for stalls where people sold things to the huge crowds at the ceremonies?"
The information from the original archaeological digs and whatever comes out of the new-technology surveys can only provide a part of the information base which will eventually tell a more accurate 'story' of what went on at the site.
"There are mentions of Dun Ailinne in documents from about 800 AD onwards, but the most accurate radio-carbon dating information from the site is from the first few centuries AD, say up to 400. So there is a big gap in information."
But there are ways to interpret what the later documents are suggesting. For instance, one which lists the 'overthrowing' of 'pagan' sites in favour of the new Christianity mentions 'Dun Ailinne is no more, but Brigid is in Kildare' and similar sentiments about other royal sites.
"In a literal sense you can't trust them completely. But the fact that Dun Ailinne was still remembered, and worth writing about, indicates that it was clearly considered a powerful place because the defeat of it was worthy of mention."
Such mentions also suggest that sites like Dun Ailinne were considered by the Christians to have been previously 'religious' in ethos.
Although Susan is only spending two weeks on this survey, she hopes it is just the start of a more extensive exploration of Dun Ailinne. Her current investigation is being grant-aided by the Heritage Council to the amount of €15,000.
"If this phase works, I see us looking for further funding to allow us do the whole site over the next couple of summers. And then we can target particular areas where the geophysics has shown us that there is something and perhaps do some further excavation."
Susan Johnston figures she has a really interesting career, and finds that young people still at school think so too.
"When I do career day talks, it comes across that they think of archaeology as being cool. I often feel sorry for the heating and plumbing people presenting, because they are probably much more important than we are."
Just that what they do isn't seen as sexy. Like any other career or craft, though, Susan notes that archaeology isn't all roses. "Maybe 70 percent is ordinary, 20 percent is pretty interesting, and ten percent is wildly exciting."
Still, maybe those proportions are pretty good when compared to most people's lives?
"Maybe," she grins. "Certainly there are worse ways of spending a fine day than being outdoors digging holes in the ground."
Previous posts on Dun Ailinne
Dun Ailinne focus on Heritage Day
Dun Ailline day a great success
Brian Byrne.
