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The inland promontory fort at Knock Dhu was the subject of limited excavations in 2008. This paper provides a full account of those excavations and considers the place of hillforts and promontory forts within the Later Bronze Age settlement sequence. The long-term social consequences of a phase of permanent nucleated settlement in the Later Bronze Age are also considered.

Following an extensive programme of geophysical survey at Rathcroghan published in 2009, five hitherto unexplored areas were surveyed using magnetic gradiometry in 2010–12. In an area south of Oweynagat a faint circular anomaly 20m in diameter and an equally faint arc some 8m across are of possible archaeological significance. Survey between the linear earthworks known as the Mucklaghs did not reveal any definite archaeological features but examination of Cashelmanannan demonstrates this is a complex multiperiod site. East of Rathcroghan Mound and its surrounding 360m enclosure, the geophysical evidence suggests that the avenue approaching the great mound does not extend beyond the enclosure limits. An area on the northwest was also investigated but apart from a semi-circular anomaly proved to be featureless. The latter, a possible ring-ditch, does indicate the possibility of significant features adjacent to and outside the enclosure.

Michael O’Kelly argued in 1982 that Newgrange had been left largely unaltered from the Neolithic onwards. However, recent scholarship and a re-assessment of the archaeological remains, as well as the early antiquarian sources and available aerial photography, suggest that, in addition to the long-recognized deposition of Roman material at the front of the entrance, the tomb was altered and perhaps entered as part of continuing ritual activities and deposition over several centuries in the Iron Age. Iron Age activities may have included deposition within the interior of the tomb itself, the construction of an enclosure or barrow on the summit and alterations to the profile of the mound itself. The ritual importance of Newgrange in the Late Iron Age is reflected in the Early Christian and medieval literature and the mythological and literary sources suggest strong links between Newgrange and Romano-British religious and ritual practices at Lydney near the NW coast of the Severn Estuary. There is now sufficient evidence of possible Iron Age activity at Newgrange to justify further testing of the remains from O’Kelly’s excavations between 1962 and 1975 to clarify the extent and duration of these practices.

This paper gives a brief description of the Danes Cast linear earthwork in Counties Down and Armagh, in particular the part played in its study by John Bell in about 1815. The whole earthwork is briefly described and an explanation is offered on its date and purpose. Finally a section first recorded by Bell, but since rejected, is reinstated and shown to extend the southern end of the cast.

This paper presents the results of an archaeological excavation conducted in 2004–2006 at Clashanimud (Cashel) hillfort, Co. Cork. The site is typical of what Raftery (1972) termed a Class 2a hillfort, comprised here of two concentric, widely-spaced enclosures over an area of 8.9 ha. Excavation revealed important details of the hillfort defences, which are radiocarbon dated to the twelfth century BC. The site history is of particular interest, with massive wooden palisades deliberately destroyed by fire soon after construction. The Clashanimud project is part of a new investigation of Irish hillforts based in University College Cork. This research includes sample excavation and radiocarbon dating of selected Class 2 hillforts across Ireland. The results from Clashanimud are discussed in relation to three similar hillforts elsewhere in Munster. The deliberate destruction of some of these strongholds offers a new insight into the regional wars of the later Bronze Age in Ireland.

This paper examines the role of warfare in early medieval Ireland in the period before the arrival of the Vikings. The approach taken compares the information available in the various annalistic records, AD 600–800, with the recovered archaeological evidence. Four archaeological indicators of warfare are considered – the defensive structures of the period; the location of the battle-site; the types of weapons used; and evidence of weapon trauma in the osteological record. The main site type is generally interpreted as a defensive farmstead; none of the 300+ battles recorded in the annals for these two centuries have been identified beyond the putative townland; few weapons that can be definitively ascribed to the seventh or eighth centuries have been found; and no mass battle-field graves have been located. Martial prowess and military victories are, however, quite clearly seen as important vindicators of an individual’s position (and also that of his subsequent lineage).

The basal fill of the Navan ditch provides information about human activity and vegetation at an important time in the evolution of the site. Palynofacies analysis of the basal fill is characterised by thermally mature (charred) pith of the Juncus rush, together with abundant other thermally mature matter. This is a very unusual assemblage, suggesting the possibility of activity involving rush lights and fire, shortly after the completion of the ditch. Pollen analysis and fluorescence microscopy suggests that pine was a component of the vegetation at Navan and the microcharcoal includes fragments with the bordered pits characteristic of the Pinaceae. Pine was probably extinct during the Iron Age in Ireland so it is possible that at Navan was a stand of introduced pine trees