Geophysical survey and landscape investigations near the Hill of Tara, Co. Meath, Ireland

What is it about?

This paper describes the results of geophysical survey and landscape investigations in the wider 'hinterland' of the Hill of Tara, Co. Meath, eastern Ireland. The fieldwork targeted a number of prominent hilltop sites which are suspected on the basis of archaeological, topographical and early documentary evidence to have been important ceremonial/political centres in later prehistory. Significant archaeological features, ranging from barrow cemeteries to large-scale enclosures, have been identified at all of the sites investigated, with some, most notably Faughan Hill, emerging as places of exceptional, if previously unrealised, archaeological importance.

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Why is it important?

The archaeological discoveries made as a result of this multi-disciplinary study opens up new avenues for understanding the organisation and development of the Tara landscape in later prehistory.