FUTURE ARCHAEOLOGICAL STRATEGY

INTRODUCTION

Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) propose to commence construction of the approved M3 Clonee-North of Kells Road scheme in 2006. The route commences at Clonee on the border between Dublin and Meath with link roads to Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells. It joins the existing N3 north of Kells near the border between Meath and Cavan. It is approximately 60km long but with a significant quantity of additional link roads, covering a total of approximately 700ha.

To date, extensive archaeological work has taken place on the route including desktop survey, field survey and geophysical survey as part of the Environmental Impact Statement. Subsequently further geophysical survey and extensive test excavation has been carried out along the whole route. The archaeological investigations carried out to date have revealed approximately 160 new sites along the whole route. The next phase of work will involve further investigations and full excavation of these sites.

These investigations will generate a significant corpus of new data. Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority are committed to the dissemination of all significant excavation results for the public benefit. The Authority recognises that the publication of archaeological results is not only a form of mitigation of the impacts of road construction but also a contribution by a State agency to the cultural life of the Irish people as a whole 1. However it is recognised throughout the archaeological profession and highlighted in the recent 2020 Archaeology Foresight consultative forum - that the lack of knowledge creation from the growing body of such data is one of the major challenges facing the archaeological profession in Ireland today 2. In order to meet this challenge on the M3 project the next phase of investigations will be carried out under an overarching research framework.

The ultimate aim of the M3 Archaeological Research Framework will be to transform the data generated on the M3 archaeological investigations from 'information' to 'knowledge'. Further detail on how it is proposed to achieve this aim is outlined in a forthcoming M3 Archaeological Research Framework document, but the broad outline is as follows:

RESEARCH POTENTIAL

As previously stated, the M3 Clonee-North of Kells road scheme is not an archaeological research project. Significant research has already taken place in many of the areas through which the road traverses, in particular the archaeological and historical research on Tara carried out by the Discovery Programme 3. However the work which will be carried out to mitigate the impact of the scheme on archaeology has enormous potential to contribute to future archaeological research. The approach proposed to provide a framework for this work will ensure that that potential is realised.

The full significance of many of the approximately 150 sites will only be revealed after excavation and post excavation however already the results to date have indicated sites which have the potential to significantly contribute to major areas of research. One example is in the study of early medieval settlement. Traditionally studies of early medieval settlement in Ireland have focused on classic type-sites, such as ringforts, crannogs and ecclesiastical enclosures. It has been suggested that other nucleated or village-like settlement forms (the baile of early medieval texts) emerged, particularly towards the end of the early Middle Ages (c. 1000AD) when ringforts had been abandoned 4. Recent NRA projects elsewhere have identified unusual, complex enclosures that may have enclosed such nucleated settlements, or they may have been farm estate centres or specialist production (i.e. metalworking) sites. Most of these sites also produce burials, indicating a more complex use of sites 5. There have been several discoveries on the M3 that may represent similar exciting evidence for early medieval settlements. At some sites it may even be possible to examine the transition between these settlement forms.

DISSEMINATION

In order to maximise the knowledge created from the information generated the results will be communicated to the archaeological community and the public at regular intervals throughout the project. In addition to this dedicated web site, illustrated booklets will provide updates throughout the project for the public. The full technical reports of the work to date will also remain available for download on the web site.

This information pack represents the first instalment of a series of publications aimed at the archaeological and related professions. Updates will be provided on a regular basis, in the form of inserts especially designed to build this information pack into a preliminary publication.

As soon a possible after the completion of excavation and post excavation the final results will be published. In these publications the results of the excavations will be integrated with the results of the archaeological, historical and palaeoenvironmental studies to ensure that they are placed in a broader context. Where appropriate the results will be synthesised on a thematic basis. This will be complemented by a non-technical publication specifically aimed at the public. Click here to download the M3 Information Pack.

  1. O'Sullivan 2003
  2. Doyle, et al. 2003; 2020 Archaeology Knowledge creation through partnership Draft for Consultation February 2005
  3. Newman 1997; Bhreathnach 1995;Roche 2002
  4. For example see C. Doherty 2000 'Early settlement' in T. Barry (ed) The history of settlement in Ireland.
  5. For example Raystown, Co Meath on the N2 Finglas-Ashbourne, Johnstown and Killickaweeny, Co Kildare on the M4 Kinnegad-Enfield-Kilkock and Balriggan, Co Louth on the M1 Dundalk Western Bypass

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