Irish Kings of Tara

Bogmen

Music and dance abound in this rainy land

so often draped by a rainbow band

coasts lashed by hotlantic storms

fields licked lush by manmouth worms

mummies rising from the bogs

petrified people logs

slain sacrificial lambs

iron-age ghosts of Ireland.

gerry gilligan,(c)2008

a/k/a sligobay

Archaeological evidence dates human habitation in Ireland to the 'middle stone age' Mesolithic period. Flint tools from the seventh millennium B.C. have been uncovered primarily in the Northeast but as far Southeast as Cork. The discovery of a settlement of hunter/gatherers near the River Bann, Mount Sandel and porcellanite quarries in other locations support the time-line.

Irish archaeology research collectively supports the conclusion of nomadic Irish tribal existence with flint axes and simple tools for two millennium. The Irish began planting crops and keeping livestock around 4,000 B.C., which are the touchstones of the Neolithic or new stone age.

The next thousand years saw the introduction of forestry, pottery, cattle, sheep, rectangular dwellings with thatched roofs, trade, travel and contact with people inhabiting the British Isles and perhaps beyond. The stone age continued for another 1200 years until about 1,800 B.C.and saw the building of burial mounds and stone circles for unknown purposes, possibly assembly or ritual. More than 1,200 burial sites from mounds, wedge tombs,court tombs, passage tombs, portal dolmens, megaliths,collectively known as cairns, criss-cross the countryside. 'Queen Maeve's' Cairn on Knocknarea overlooks the City of Sligo. The sunrise of winter solstice negotiates the passage into the tomb chamber at County Meath's Newgrange, the burial ground of the earliest Irish high kings of Tara.

The copper age saw early metallurgy during the second millennium at mine-shafts of Mount Gabriel, Cork. Tin was probably imported from Cornwall to smelt with the copper by the alchemists to create bronze at the turn of the millennium. Bronze facilitated the manufacture of weaponry by 1000 B.C., metal cauldrons, hinges, horse-bits and bridles, horsemanship, warfare, fortresses, and the arms race was joined to our collective detriment.

The iron age followed around 600 B.C. and corresponded with a climate change that reduced arable land and expanded the peat bogs. The hill-forts of Clogher, County Tyrone, was a location for iron manufacture but bronze gave way reluctantly on this island. The iron age preceded the early historic references to the Celtic race and Hibernia, the Roman name for Ireland.

Tara, in Co. Meath, may be the most important archaeological site in all of Ireland. The 'fort of kings', Rath na Riogh, is a passage grave dating back to 2130 B.C. and is a low oval mound that is part of this complex site. Tara's many layers, levels, aspects, elements and structures have not been fully explored, scientifically examined or fully described or documented by archaeologists. Tara had served as the seat of the high kings of Ireland for thousands of years and is the 'royal mound'.

In the absence of recorded history, Ireland's early history is recorded in its rich oral tradition of heroic mythical figures and legendary exploits. Ancient provincial rivalries among Connacht, Ulster, Munster and Leinster are carried forward in amateur sporting divisions established by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).

To be sure of the conversion of pagan Ireland to Christianity during the fifth century A.D., Saint Patrick used this ancient site of pagan ritual,Tara, to conduct a Christian gathering, the "Rath of the Synods". Tara remains the heart and soul of Celtic people of this land.

Six thousand years before Christ and two thousand years after Christ, Tara survived as a place held sacred by pagan and Christian alike. Undisturbed since the upheaval of the last ice age, Tara has withstood the test of time.

Tara has outlasted the invasions and conquests by internal and external geopolitical forces, climate changes of the iron age, religious crusades, plague, pestilence and famine. It is the repository of heritage and history of the Celtic people from eons ago.

But since the turn of the century, the twenty first century, Tara, has succumbed to the conquest of the "global economy", modernization and convenience. The government and its business partners are building a sixty km highway across its face and through its heart. If ever a place on this blessed earth earned the name, "heartland", Tara is that sacred place.

The lyrics of a popular American tune come to mind: "...they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. ....you don't know what you've got 'til its gone."

Make a difference for once in your lifetime. Visit the links, sign the petition, send money to support the campaign and litigation. Write to your friends, to the media and to your representatives in government and voice your objection to this desecration. Physically go to Tara in Co. Meath and protest.

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED. Thank you for your help.