Emain Macha

Emain Macha, capital of Ulster according to medieval Irish tradition, derived its name from the goddess Macha, who also underlies the name of Armagh, ‘the heights of Macha’. Its pseudo‐historical foundation date ranges from the 7th to the 4th centuries bc and the demise of its ruling dynasty was assigned to the 4th or 5th centuries ad. It provides a setting for many of Ireland's major early heroic tales such as the Táin.

Anglicized as Navan (<An Eamhain), the site is identified with the modern Navan Fort, 3 miles west of Armagh. The main monument consists of a bank and ditched enclosure c.1,000 feet across. Settlement is known from the neolithic to the Middle Ages, but most particularly c.400–100 bc when its inhabitants erected a series of round houses and larger enclosures. Within one of the structures was found the skull of a Barbary ape from North Africa, the most exotic prehistoric archaeological find in Ireland, and interpreted as evidence of prestige gift‐exchange. About 95 bc the inhabitants erected a ritual structure, formed from concentric rows of 275 timber posts and measuring 130 feet in diameter. This was enigmatically filled with limestone boulders, its timbers set alight, and then covered with a mound of turves, presumably for ritual purposes. Navan was a major ceremonial centre during the prehistoric period, probably the spiritual and political capital of the Iron Age Uluti, after whom the province of Ulster is named.

J. P. Mallory