1989:006 - HAUGHEY'S FORT, Tray, Armagh

Haughey's Fort is a large hillfort situated within the Navan complex of monuments and c. 3/4 mile west of Navan Fort. The fort measures c. 150m in maximum diameter and results of a test excavation in 1987 indicate that it dates to c. 1100 Cal. BC. The results of the test excavation (see Excavations 1987, 10) prompted the author to undertake a larger excavation for six weeks (5 June - 14 July 1989). The primary goals of the 1989 excavation were:
(a) to open a significant area of the interior of the site to determine whether there were traces of architectural features, especially dwellings, that had been preserved;
(b) to open up as large an area of the ditch as possible in order to recover a statistically significant quantity of animal bones, wood remains, and other environmental indicators.

A total of 214 sq. m was excavated in 1989. In the interior portion of the site was discovered a number of very large pits, comparable to the large pits discovered in the 1987 test excavation. These measured about 1.5m across and up to 1m deep and were filled with dark soil, charcoal, some sherds of Bronze Age pottery, burnt bone and charred grain (barley), and, in one instance, two bronze rings.

Unlike during the 1987 excavations, there were also discovered traces of possible structures. The excavation uncovered the broad arc of an enclosure marked out by a series of both postholes and two rows of small stakeholes each running approximately parallel to the next. Its actual size and shape is still indeterminable - the line of the structure was traced for at least 15m in a slightly curving arc that might suggest an oval enclosure. In addition, there was a considerable quantity of stakeholes and postholes whose pattern is not readily interpretable.

A further 8m of the ditch was excavated to base. The ditch is c. 2.5m deep and descends into a sharp V profile. The ditch yielded abundant organic remains - animal bones, insects and wood, and some Late Bronze Age pottery. The faunal remains are predominantly those of cattle, followed by pig and small numbers of both sheep and goat (including a very large horn core from a goat) and horse. Dog was present and another dog skull, comparable to one discovered in 1987 which would appear to be the largest prehistoric dog skull in the British Isles, was recovered. Among the abundant wood remains were a number of worked pieces, including the broken handle of a bronze tool, and several other wooden artefacts.

Following the completion of the excavation, Barrie Hartwell of the Department of Archaeology, QUB, undertook an aerial photographic survey of the Navan complex which was funded by the DOE. Under the exceptional dry conditions he discovered crop marks suggesting that Haughey's Fort is not surrounded by a single ditch but by no less than three ditches. The newly discovered ditches lie far outside the present boundary of the site, with the middle ditch approximately 60m further downslope and the outermost ditch 100m downslope of the innermost (1987/1989) ditch. These suggest that Haughey's Fort may be actually larger than Navan Fort itself and will be the subject of excavation in 1990.

An account of the earlier excavations is carried in Emania 4 and 5 and an interim report of the 1989 excavation will appear in Emania 8.