2002:0035 - NAVAN, Armagh

The results of earlier, small-scale excavations at Navan in this series, which began in 1999, have been published in interim form. Reports on the 1999 and 2000 seasons have appeared in Emania, and an interim report on the 2001 excavation by the writer and J.P. Mallory, entitled ‘Recent excavations and speculations on the Navan Complex’, appeared in Antiquity 76 (292) (2002), 532–41.

Completion of excavation of the junction of Rings C1 and A3
The excavations have concentrated on Site C, a 30m-diameter set of ring-slots revealed by geophysics between Sites A and B on the top of the drumlin at Navan, surrounded by the enclosure. The excavations have shown that Site C was formed of three concentric ring-slots, the inner and outer of which contained burnt material. The feature joins in a figure-of-eight style with the smaller triple-ring-slot feature found under Site A by Waterman in 1961. It post-dates a palisade slot emanating from the area excavated under Site B. This and a series of four radiocarbon dates indicate that the Site A/C feature was probably built at around the same time as the Site B mound, in around 95 BC. It was clearly intended for ceremonial purposes and may even have been used as part of the commissioning rites of the monument.

In 2002 a trench measuring 2m by 2.5m was opened to the north of Trench 1 (first dug in 1999) to find the ends of the converging ring-slots of Site A/C (which lie immediately outside Trench 1). The deposits were very disturbed by rabbit burrows, which exploit the softer archaeological deposits. It appears, however, that the ends of the slots, A3 and C1, have been found within the extended area. The slots ended by shelving steeply upwards, and the last post in each slot was approximately the same size as the others in the slot. The terminals of the slots were c. 0.8m apart, centre to centre, and the packing of the slots merged along the zone of contact to form a single deposit. This confirmed that the wooden structures in the separate (inner) rings of the figure of eight were contemporaneous.

Finds from contexts disturbed by rabbits, but probably Iron Age, comprise a fragment of copper-alloy binding, an iron pin-shank or awl, a tapering fragment of lignite rod and a lentoid pad of baked clay(?) c. 35mm in diameter.

Slot(s) running west–east downhill from Site C
In conjunction with the investigation of a possible entrance to Navan (see below), a trench measuring 2m by 6m was opened on the eastern slope of the interior of the monument c. 20m from the inner edge of the ditch. The trench was laid out to determine whether a local hollow in the hillside was artificial, perhaps the site of a sunken accessway to the hilltop. The trench revealed several parallel slots running west–east down the slope. Some of these may have been drains, but one was larger, 0.6m wide and 0.6m deep, and looked like an ancient slot. It had no evidence of post sockets, however, and at one point its fill contained several large limestone boulders. Further checking of survey data is required to determine if this could be one of the linear features indicated by the geophysics in this area that might be linked to Site C. A dark blue bead of Early Christian period type was recovered from the base of the topsoil.

The entrance to Navan Fort?
An important issue raised by the investigation of Site C on the hilltop is the location of an entrance to Navan Fort (if we assume that the sanctuary had a formal entrance). The present large entrance west of the Site B mound may be a modern accessway for the nearby farm. Speculation about the possible location of an original entrance has focused on the downhill, eastern sector of the enclosure, where there are several candidates. Investigation in 2001 of an apparent gap in the east side of Ring C (Excavations 2001, No. 27) revealed that this was a real gap, an ‘entrance’, and that it was flanked on the north by a slot running off to the east. Based on analogy with similar structures found at Knockaulin, there is a possibility that this is the northern element of a pair of palisade slots, running off down the hill to the east toward the entrance to the monument.

The eastern sector of the earthwork, where the site of the original entrance may lie, is much levelled, and the site of the bank is in scrubby ground outside the area maintained for visitor access. Excavation could not, therefore, be targeted on an existing gap or gaps in the earthwork and ditch. Several factors led to the selection of a place on the perimeter as a likely candidate for the original entrance: the orientation of the Iron Age timber buildings on the summit; the layout of the earthwork in relation to the hill; comparisons with similar arrangements at Knockaulin and Tara; and geophysical indications of parallel palisade slots (an ‘avenue’) running from Site C down the hill to the east.

A narrow trench was excavated on the site of the bank at a point where the various indicators suggested that an original entrance might lie. This revealed a carefully cobbled path or roadway running into the earthwork. The path was c. 2m wide across a flat bottom, and the sides sloped upward in rougher cobbling to give an overall width of c. 6m. The deepest part of the track was covered by a deposit, c. 0.5m thick, of fine clean clay or ‘wash’. The only dating evidence recovered was the stem of a clay pipe that came from this super-incumbent material but that may have been intrusive in this context, given the amount of similar and more recent material in the base of the overlying topsoil. The track is, therefore, not dated and could not, within the area excavated, be related stratigraphically to the bank or to a pre-bank surface. It seems, however, unlikely to be original.

Two trenches excavated on the inside of the perimeter hedge, across the line of the ditch, failed to reveal an access causeway in line with the track, although it appears that the ditch is narrower at this point than elsewhere. There is a possibility that the perimeter hedge in this sector lies roughly in the middle line of the bank and does not, as generally elsewhere, mark the junction of its internal face with the ditch. In other words the outside edge of the ditch in this eastern sector is c. 5m inside the line of the hedge.

Initial interest at the potential discovery of the entrance gave way to uncertainty. The issue, however, is too important to be left unresolved, and it is proposed to carry out further, non-destructive, geotechnical research (geophysics, ground-penetrating radar and coring) in the eastern sector of the enclosure before further manual excavation is contemplated. This methodology may also be used to assess other possible candidates for entrances on the perimeter of the sanctuary.

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