Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:31:44.856Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Dorsey: A Reinterpretation of an Iron Age Enclosure in South Armagh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

N. B. Aitchison
N. B. Aitchison*
Affiliation:
10 Vittoria Walk, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1TW
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper evaluates traditional and current interpretations of the Dorsey, a large earthwork and timber piled enclosure in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland. It casts doubt on the interpretation of the site as a frontier defence and, on the basis of parallels with other Irish sites such as Navan Fort, suggests that it may have been a focus of ritual activity. Although concentrating on a single site, specific features are identified which may, with further analysis, provide an alternative and enhanced understanding of a range of Iron Age sites in Ireland.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , 1993 , pp. 285 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aitchison, N. B. 1987. The Ulster Cycle: heroic image and historical reality, Journal of Medieval History 13, 87–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aitchison, N. B. 1988. Roman wealth, native ritual: coin hoards within and beyond Roman Britain. World Archaeology 20, 270–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aitchison, N. B. 1990. Monuments and the Construction of the Past in Early Historic Ireland. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Aitchison, N. B. in press. Armagh and the Royal Centres: Monuments, Cosmology, and the Past in Early Medieval Ireland. Glasgow: Cruithne Press.Google Scholar
Alcock, J. P. 1966. Celtic water cults in Roman Britain. Archaeological Journal 122 (1965), 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ASNI 1966. Archaeological Survey of Northern Ireland. An Archaeological Survey of County Down. Belfast: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Baillie, M. G. L. 1988. The dating of the timbers from Navan Fort and the Dorsey, Co. Armagh. Emania 4, 37–40.Google Scholar
Baillie, M. G. L. & Brown, D. M. 1989. Further dates from the Dorsey. Emania 6, 11.Google Scholar
Barringer, B. 1955. On the track of the Black Pig. University Museum Bulletin (Philadelphia) 19, 3–16.Google Scholar
Bateson, J. D. 1973. Roman material from Ireland: a re-consideration. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 73C, 21–97.Google Scholar
Bowden, M. & McOmish, D. 1989. Little boxes: more about hillforts. Scottish Archaeological Review 6, 12–16.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1982. The destruction of wealth in later prehis-tory. Man 17, 108–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1985a. Consumption, Change and the Archaeo-logical Record: the Archaeology of Monuments and the Archaeology of Deliberate Deposits. Two Munro Lectures Given in the University of Edinburgh on 27 & 28 November 1984. Edinburgh: Department of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1990. The Passage of Arms: an Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric Hoards and Votive Deposits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, C. G. & Harper, A. E. T. 1985. Excavations on Cathedral Hill, Armagh, 1968. Ulster journal of Archaeology 47 (1984), 109–61.Google Scholar
Browne, A. 1802. An account of some ancient trumpets, dug up in a bog near Armagh. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 8, 11–12.Google Scholar
Brunaux, J. L. 1988. The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries. London: Seaby. First published 1987 as Les Gaulois: sanctuaires et rites. Paris: Editions Errance. Trans. D. Nash.Google Scholar
Byrne, F. J. 1973. Irish Kings and High-Kings. London: B. T. Batsford.Google Scholar
Carson, R. A. G. & O'Kelly, C. 1977. A catalogue of the Roman coins from Newgrange, and notes on the coins and related finds. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 77C, 35–55.Google Scholar
Chart, D. A. 1930. Air-photography in Northern Ireland. Antiquity 4, 453–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condit, T. & Buckley, V. M. 1989. The ‘Doon’ of Drumsna – gateways to Connacht. Emania 6, 12–14.Google Scholar
Condit, T., Gibbons, M. & Timoney, M. 1991. Hillforts in Sligo and Leitrim, Emania 9, 59–62.Google Scholar
Coote, C. 1804. Statistical Account of the Survey of the County of Armagh. Dublin: Royal Dublin Society.Google Scholar
Davies, O. 1938. Excavations at the south gate of the Dorsey entrenchment. County Louth Archaeological Journal 9 (2), 131–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dark, K. R. 1993. Roman-period activity at prehistoric ritual monuments in Britain and in the Armorican peninsula. In Scott, E. (ed.), Theoretical Roman Archaeology: First Conference Proceedings, 133–46. Aldershot: Avebury.Google Scholar
Davies, O. 1940a. Excavations on the Dorsey and the Black Pig's Dyke. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 3, 31–37.Google Scholar
Davies, O. 1940b. Excavations at the Dorsey. County Louth Archaeological Journal 9 (4), 280–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, O. 1955. The Black Pig's Dyke. Ulster journal of Archaeology 18, 29–36.Google Scholar
de Jubainville, H. d'A. 1895. Plan de ‘Navan Fort’, appele en vieil irlandais Emain Machae. Revue celtique 16, 1–7.Google Scholar
Evans, E. E. 1953. Lyles Hill: a Late Neolithic Site in Co. Antrim. Belfast: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Evans, E. E. 1966. Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland: a Guide. London: B. T. Batsford.Google Scholar
Evans, E. E. 1981. The Personality of Ireland: Habitat, Heritage and History. Rev. ed. Belfast: Blackstaff. First published 1973.Google Scholar
Feachem, R. W. 1971. Unfinished hill-forts. In Hill, D. & Jesson, M. (eds), The Iron Age and its Hill-Forts: Papers Presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler on the Occasion of his Eightieth Year at a Conference held by the Southampton University Archaeological Society, 5th–7th March 1971, 19–39. Southampton: Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A. P. 1984. The deposition of La Tene Iron Age metalwork in watery contexts in southern England. In Cunliffe, B. W. & Miles, D. (eds), Aspects of the Iron Age in Central Southern England, 178–90. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Forde-Johnston, J. 1976. Hillforts of the Iron Age in England and Wales. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Green, M. J. 1986. The Gods of the Celts. Stroud: Alan Sutton.Google Scholar
Hamlin, A. 1985. Emain Macha: Navan Fort. Seanchas Ardmhacha 11 (2), 295–300.Google Scholar
Harbison, P. 1988. Pre-Christian Ireland: from the First Settlers to the Early Celts. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Herity, M. & Eogan, G. 1977. Ireland in Prehistory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Hogg, A. H. A. 1975. Hill-forts of Britain. London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon.Google Scholar
Hughes, F. J. 1955. Eamhain Mhacha. Seanchas Ardmhacha 1 (2), 1–10.Google Scholar
Jackson, K. H. 1964. The Oldest Irish Tradition: a Window on the Iron Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kane, W. F. de V. 1909. The Black Pig's Dyke: the ancient boundary fortification of Uladh. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 27C, 301–28.Google Scholar
Kane, W. F. de V. 1915. The Dun of Drumsna: a frontier fortification between the kingdoms of Aileagh and Cruaghan. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 32C (1914–1916), 324–32.Google Scholar
Kane, W. F. de V. 1917. Additional researches on the Black Pig's Dyke. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 33C (1916–1917), 539–63.Google Scholar
Kinsella, T. (trans.) 1969. The Tain: Translated from the Irish Epic Tain Bó Cuailnge. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted 1970. Dublin: Dolmen Press.Google Scholar
Lanting, J., Brindley, A., Buckley, V. & Condit, T. 1991. Preliminary carbon 14 dates from the Doon of Drumsna. Emania 9, 66.Google Scholar
Leach, E. 1976. Culture and Communication: the Logic by which Symbols are Connected. An Introduction to the Use of Structuralist Analysis in Social Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lett, H. W. 1898. The dun at Dorsy, Co. Armagh. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 28, 1–14.Google Scholar
Lett, H. W., Berry, R. G. & Fennell, W. J. 1897. The great wall of Ulidia; commonly known as ‘the Dane's Cast’, or ‘Gleann-na-muice-duibhe’. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 3, 23–29, 65–82.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. n.d. [1981]. The Dorsey and other linear earth-works. In Scott, B. G. (ed.), 121–28.Google Scholar
Lynn, C.J. 1986. Navan Fort: a draft summary account of D. M. Waterman's excavations. Emania 1, 11–19.Google Scholar
Lynn, C.J. 1988a. The Iron Age gates of Ulster? In Hamlin, A. & Lynn, C. (eds), Pieces of the Past: Archaeological Excavations by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, 1970–1986, 21–24. Belfast: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. 1988b. A small excavation on the Dane's Cast, Killyfaddy, Co. Armagh. Emania 4, 41.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. 1989a. An interpretation of the Dorsey. Emania 6, 5–10.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. 1989b. A bibliography of northern linear earth-works. Emania 6, 18–21.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. 1990. Knockaulin (Dun Ailinne) and Navan: some architectural comparisons. Emania 8, 51–56.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. J. 1992. The Iron Age mound in Navan Fort: a physical realization of Celtic religious beliefs? Emania 10, 33–57.Google Scholar
Mallory, J. P. n.d. a [1985]. Navan Fort: the Ancient Capital of Ulster, n.p. [Belfast]: Ulster Archaeological Society for the Friends of Navan.Google Scholar
Mallory, J.P. n.d.b [1981]. The sword of the Ulster Cycle. In Scott, B. G. (ed.), 99–114.Google Scholar
Mallory, J. P. 1986. Silver in the Ulster Cycle of tales. In Evans, D. E., Griffith, J. G. & Jope, E. M. (eds), Europe and the Celtic World: Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Celtic Studies, Oxford, 198), 31–78. Oxford: D. E. Evans.Google Scholar
Mallory, J. P. 1989. Editorial. Emania 6, 3–4.Google Scholar
Mallory, J. P. & McNeill, T. E. 1991. The Archaeology of Ulster from Colonization to Plantation. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast.Google Scholar
O'Kelly, M. J. 1982. Newgrange: Archaeology, Art and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
O'Kelly, M. J. 1989. Early Ireland: an Introduction to Irish Prehistory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O'Rahilly, T. F. 1946. Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.Google Scholar
Ó Ríordáin, S. P. 1979. Antiquities of the Irish Countryside. London: Methuen. First published 1942. Revised by R. de Valera.Google Scholar
Ó Ríordáin, S. P. 1982. Tara: the Monuments on the Hill. Dundalk: Dundalgan Press. First published 1965.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1975. The Druids. Rev. ed., first published 1968. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1978. Nemeton, temenos, bothros: sanctuaries of the ancient Celts. I Celti e la loro cultura nell'epoca prerontana e romana nella Britannia: Problemi Attuali di Scienza e di Cultura 237, 37–54.Google Scholar
Powell, T. G. E. 1980. The Celts. Rev. ed., first published 1958. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Proceedings. 1959. Proceedings and Papers. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 5 (1858–1859), 57–67. (No author given.)Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1969. Freestone Hill, Co Kilkenny: an Iron Age hillfort and Bronze Age cairn. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 68C, 1–108.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1972. Irish hill-forts. In Thomas, C. (ed.), The Iron Age in the Irish Sea Province. London: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1983. A Catalogue of Irish Iron Age Antiquities. 2 vols. Marburg: Veröffentlichung des Vorgeschichtlichen Seminars 1.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1984. La Tène in Ireland: Problems of Origins and Chronology. Marburg: Veröffentlichung des Vorgeschicht-lichen Seminars 2.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1987. The Loughnashade horns. Emania 2, 21–24.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1989. Barbarians to the west. In Barrett, J. C., Fitzpatrick, A. P. & Macinnes, L. (eds), Barbarians and Romans in North-West Europe: From the Later Republic to Late Antiquity, 117–52. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Reeves, W. 1847. The Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, Consisting of a Taxation of those Dioceses, Compiled in the year MCCCVI. Dublin: Hodges & Smith.Google Scholar
Reeves, W. 1860. The Ancient Churches of Armagh: being the Substance of a Paper Read before the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society, on the 14th of March, 1860. Lusk:Google Scholar
Reeves, W. Reprinted in Ulster Journal of Archaeology 2 (1896), 194–204; 6 (1900), 24–33.Google Scholar
Ross, A. 1967. Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Scott, B. G. (ed.) n.d. [1981]. Studies on Early Ireland: Essays in Honour of M. V. Duignan. n.p. [Belfast]: Association of Young Irish Archaeologists.Google Scholar
Selkirk, A. 1970. Navan Fort. Current Archaeology 22, 304–308.Google Scholar
Sharpe, R. 1982. St Patrick and the See of Armagh. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 4, 33–59.Google Scholar
Simpson, D. & Gibson, A. 1989. Lyles Hill. Current Archaeology 114, 214–15.Google Scholar
Simpson, D. D. A. 1989. Neolithic Navan? Emania 6, 31–33.Google Scholar
Tempest, H. G. 1930. The Dorsey: some notes on the large entrenchment in the T. L. of Dorsey in the south of the County of Armagh. County Louth Archaeological Journal 7, 187–240. Reprinted n.d. [1992] with a supplementary note by C. J., Lynn. n.p. [Dundalk]: Louth Archaeological & Historical Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Topp, C. 1955. The gold ornaments reputedly found near the entrance to New Grange in 1842. University of London Institute of Archaeology Twelfth Annual Report (1954–1955), 53–62.Google Scholar
Wailes, B. 1976. Dún Ailinne: an interim report. In Harding, D. W. (ed.), Hillforts: Later Prehistoric Earthworks in Britain and Ireland, 319–38, 474–77. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wailes, B. 1982. The Irish ‘royal sites’ in history and archaeology. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 3, 1–29.Google Scholar
Wailes, B. 1990. Dún Ailinne: a summary excavation report. Emania 7, 10–21.Google Scholar
Wait, G. A. 1986. Ritual and Religion in Iron Age Britain. 2 vols. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Walsh, A. 1987. Excavating the Black Pig's Dyke. Emania 3, 5–11.Google Scholar
Walsh, A. & Williams, F. 1985. An introduction to the archaeology and folklore of Irish linear earthworks. Vernacular Building 9, 22–27.Google Scholar
Warner, R. B. 1986. Preliminary schedules of sites and stray finds in the Navan complex. Emania 1, 5–9.Google Scholar
Weir, D. A. 1989. A radiocarbon date from the Navan Fort ditch. Emania 6, 34–35.Google Scholar
Williams, F. 1987. The Black Pig and linear earthworks. Emania 3, 12–19.Google Scholar
Woodward, A. 1992. Shrines & Sacrifice. London: B. T. Batsford/English Heritage.Google Scholar