Talk on historical Teltown site
Kells and District Tourism Forum Lecture Series hosts a talk entitled 'Archaeological investigations at the ‘royal’ enclosure of Ráith Airthir, Teltown' by Dr Ger Dowling, on Sunday 28th April in Donaghpatrick Hall, at 3pm.
The location of the most famous Lughnasa assembly in early Ireland, Teltown (Tailtiu) is one of the most significant ceremonial landscapes in the Meath region. Alongside a wealth of early documentary references to Teltown, the special character of this landscape is highlighted by the presence of a small but diverse range of archaeological monuments of both prehistoric and early medieval date. Among these is the ‘royal’ site of Ráith Airthir, one of the largest and most spectacular enclosures of its type in Ireland.
In exploring the history of Ráith Airthir and its broader landscape, this talk considers how recent archaeological investigations involving geophysical survey and test excavation have transformed our understanding of the site. This work has revealed Ráith Airthir to be a complex, multi-period site, which retained a special status from prehistoric times right up to the medieval period and beyond.
Dr Ger Dowling is Assistant Director of the 'Late Iron Age and ‘Roman’ Ireland' Project at the Discovery Programme, Dublin. He completed his PhD in Archaeology at NUI Galway on late prehistoric enclosures and ritual monuments and has undertaken research on a wide range of archaeological sites in Ireland and abroad, on which he has published several papers. Entry €5.