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TARA
ANCIENT SEAT OF ROYAL IRELAND
Celtia, Flidais Niafer  During our upcoming Springfest, to be celebrated in Celtia as Beltane, one of the first new cities to open will be Tara. Historically, Tara was the seat of the Ard Righ (High King) of
Ireland from the third century up until the year 1022.
Click here for an excellent clickable map of Tara from the Mythical Ireland website that will help you visualize some of the following points of interest.
The Hill of Tara (Temair) is a long, low-lying limestone ridge that runs north-south between Navan and Dunshaghlin in County Meath. From the summit of Tara, which is at the north end of the ridge, one may view as many as 13 of Ireland's counties on a clear day. About thirty monuments are clustered around this summit. Most of these are megaliths, barrows and ring-ditches. The sites known as Teach Chormaic (Cormac's House) and Ra'ith Lo'egaire (Laoghaire's Fort) were probably relatively new additions to the complex. To the south of the summit lies the visually impressive henge which is called Rath Maeve or Maeve's Fort. To the northwest, the crystalline shimmer of Newgrange can be glimpsed at a distance from Tara Hill.
The most famous megalith at Tara is Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny which stands near the center of the complex. According to legend, this stone was a sacred REPLACED OBJECT brought to Ireland by the Tuatha De Danaan. It is said that when the true king stood on this stone, it roared. Originally it was located near the entrance to the Mound of Hostages. Many experts consider it part of the same arrangement of stones. After the Battle of Tara in 1798, it was moved to mark the resting places of 400 rebels who died there. But is the stone we see at Tara today the real Lia Fail?
Some say that the true Stone of Destiny was taken from Tara by King Fergus of Scotland to be set up at Westminster Cathedral, where it became the Stone of Scone, coronation site for British
kings. According to other sources, the Lia Fail was one of four stones that once marked the cardinal points at Tara. Or perhaps it was one of two noble pillars marking the entrance to the
passage grave. No solid proof of any of these theories has been produced.
We do know that the earliest structure at Tara is the enclosure around the neolithic passage tomb known as the Mound of Hostages or Duma na NGiall. The enclosure was built first, radiocarbon-dated as somewhere between 3030 and 2190 BC. The construction of the actual passage tomb itself came next. Archaeological evidence shows that the enclosure was either burned down or was not in use for a time. Then it was reconstructed when the passage tomb was made. Two pots were found just outside the tomb, containing several cremations apparently put into place before the cairn itself was built. Then the tomb, 4 meter long and 1 meter wide, was constructed. It is divided by rows of stones into 3 sections, each one holding cremated remains along with an assortment of grave goods.
The Mound of Hostages gets its name from the kingly Irish custom of taking and holding important people from other provinces in order to signify their submission. For example,
Niall of the Nine Hostages was so called because he had hostages from all of the provinces of Ireland and a few from Britain, adding up to a total of nine.
The Rath of Synods and the Mound of Hostages are the only two monuments that have actually been excavated to date.
Recently the remains of an enormous oval-shaped temple marked out by over 300 post holes, each of which are 2 meters wide, was found under the crown of Tara Hill. At its widest point, this temple measures 170 meters. It is obvious that a huge amount of people-power was necessary to construct such a monument. Conor Newman from NUI Galway, who directed a survey of Tara from 1992-1996 commented, "It fills a very important place in the jigsaw because it allows us to make sense of the distribution of other monuments all around it."
The Rath of Synods or Ra'ith na Senad is a late addition to Tara, since Roman material found within it shows that it was built during last part of Ireland's pre-Christian age, somewhere between 200-400 AD.
Ra'ith na Rig is the large (almost 1000 meters circumference) circular henge-like enclosure crowning the Hill of Tara. Originally it was cut as deeply as 3.5 meters. One of the layers of the original bank of this enclosure has waste material from ironworking in it, which reveals an Iron Age date for its construction.
The last construction at Tara was the rebuilding of Ra'ith na Rig to add a defensive enclosure and three new entrances, the most important of which opens to the east. This was added during the same period as Teach Chormaic, the only ringfort at Tara, was built, encircling the central Forrad in a figure eight.
The long and narrow area known as the Banquet Hall was probably not really a hall, despite lingering shades of medieval romance. It was more likely a sort of grand avenue, the entrance way to Tara.
What is truly amazing about Tara is that the monuments at Tara were built over a period of four thousand years, from the middle of the neolithic age through the time when Christianity came to Ireland. These monuments were more or less in continuous use for ceremonial purposes and assemblies of people from all over Ireland for a thousand years after last structure was built. In 1843 the famous Irish liberator Daniel O'Connell held a monster meeting at Tara attended by an estimated 750,000 people where he called for repeal of the union with Britain.
A poem can be found in the tenth century Book of Ballymote, a tribute to Tara by O'Hartigan which translates as follows:
It was a famous Fortress of Wisdom.
It was enobled with warlike Chiefs.
To be viewed it was a splendid Hill
During the time of Cormac Mac Airt.
Enlightened was his train of Bards
Who kept the Records in careful Order.
And what they said was respected
By all the Teachers of each Art.
And soon, in Celtia, Tara will come alive again!
Footnote: Tara Hill is presently under threat by plans to build a highway that would virtually slice the valley in half. To read more about this and join others in the fight to preserve Tara, click here.
THAILAND: CULTURAL BACKWATER OR THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION?
THE BAN CHIANG PROJECT
Sankhkare Thutmose  In 1966, while still a student of sociology at Harvard, Steve Young quite literally stumbled onto one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century. The son of a former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Mr. Young was walking through the village of Ban Chiang in northeastern Thailand when he tripped over a kapok tree root and fell into history. There, protruding from the ground in front of him, was the lip of a clay pot — the first of dozens he noticed as mere circles in the dirt. Young's historical find was literally surfacing of its own accord, brought to light by erosion in the area.
The locals were less than impressed. For over a hundred years they had been finding pots, potsherds, beads, metal, animal and even human bones every time they dug in the ground around their village. Not realizing the significance of their discoveries, they simply ignored them. But the cache of buff-colored pots decorated with their bright red designs was just the beginning of a remarkable discovery that would turn a number of long-held theories upside-down.
The first thing our young hero noticed was that these pots were unglazed, which led him to believe he had found relics of a truly ancient civilization. Digging up a few of the pots, he turned them over to the Fine Arts Department of Thailand, which eventually sent them off to the University of Pennsylvania for thermoluminescence dating. The surprising results proved these pots were ancient indeed with a carbon date of 3600 BCE.
Convinced that here was a find worthy of attention, further excavations were undertaken. More pots, skeletons, and bronze and iron tools and utensils were discovered. Soon digging began in earnest with two major excavations mounted in the mid-seventies, the first in 1974. Within two years, the excavators had uncovered 126 human skeletons and 18 tons of artifacts. The burial ground at Ban Chiang proved to consist of seven layers, the lowest of which dated back to 3600 BCE. It was at this level that history dropped its bombshell — a bronze spearhead lying next to a human skeleton, a second skeleton nearby wearing bronze anklets, and a third with bronze bracelets.
For decades historians have called the Middle East the "Cradle of Civilization." The accepted wisdom has been that writing, cities, the wheel, and the metallurgical discovery of bronze first arose in the so-called "Fertile Crescent," the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Bronze Age, it was agreed, had lasted from about 2500 BCE to about 1000 BCE, and in those fifteen hundred years humans developed trade, metallurgy, and mining. Furthermore, Southeast Asia had always been considered a cultural backwater of India and China. Yet here was ancient evidence that boldly put both those theories in doubt.
 Specimens were sent for testing and again were dated to approximately 3600 BCE — over a thousand years older than Mesopotamian bronzes; fifteen hundred years older than their Chinese counterparts. Young's find was proof of human settlements in this region 600 years before the domestication of sheep, cattle, and water buffalo in China. Proof of a fully developed bronze metallurgy comparable to the Shang Dynasty in China, but without the extensive weaponry that is usually associated with other Bronze Age sites. Prehistoric residents of this region, it appears, mastered bronze working and from there moved on to pottery and glass beads. By 2000 BCE, they had begun to manufacture iron.
And as if all this wasn't enough, the Bronze Age had always been considered an age of kings and armies, of colossal temples and walled cities. Yet here the Bronze Age arrived not only earlier, but more gently. "Archaeologists are still trying to digest the presence of a sophisticated technology in a society with little social hierarchy, and one that seems unwarlike no less."
References:
Ban Chiang Project. Dept. of Anthropology, University of Hawaii. www2.soc.hawaii.edu/css/anth/projects/banchiang/banchiang.htm
The Ban Chiang Project. 8 Jan 2002. The University of Pennsylvania. www.museum.upenn.edu/new/research/Exp_Rese_Disc/Asia/banchiang.shtml
Vernon, William. The Crucibles of Ban Chiang. Dept. of Geology, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally published in Ban Chiang Update, Issue #7, Spring/Summer 1998. www.sas.upenn.edu/~csherman/crucible.htm
Photo by M. Pietrusewsky
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Tara: Ancient Seat of Royal Ireland
Flidais Niafer Reporting From Celtia
Thailand: Cultural Backwater or Cradle of Civilization?
Sankira Qui Reporting from The Orient
CILIPEID CELTICA - WALES EDITION
GROUP IN CELTIA
Aveleen Ordovices Cilipeid Celtica - Wales Edition  We are lucky to have a few members who live in Wales, including the Curator, ylais Silures. Under the Language section, we just opened Poetry. It also features Welsh Sayings, Proverbs and Expressions. This one is sweet.
With the night the house grows dark,
with the night comes candle light,
with the night comes the end of play,
and with the night comes Daddy home.
Under Architecture you can read about the wonderful Castles of Wales and see pictures of them. If you are curious about Welsh Food and Drink go there to learn more and check out the recipes. Recently St.David's Day was celebrated. He is the Patron Saint of Wales, you can go HERE to read more. So stop by and have a look around, you will like what you see and now I must, Rhoi'r Ffidil ar y Tô
Translation:Put the fiddle on the roof.
In English it would mean, "Call it quits".
NEWS FROM THE HAPPY FISH
COME VISIT MICHINPAQUI!
Anahuarque Coya Yupanqui Rabbits, fish and chocolate - what do all of these have in common? All can be found at Michinpaqui! Yep, the Machu Picchu group Michinpaqui is alive and well and invites all rabbits, fish, chocolate lovers and everyone else to come visit and join us in our many ponderings, prosings and drunken ravings. Obsessed with chocolate? We have an entire board dedicated to it! Or maybe you'd be interested in participating in a little Pokatok? If you are of a more serious bend, never fear! We have topics for that too! Join us in discussions on the legacies of the ancestors of the Americas, delving into traditions, music, art and other items that have been passed down through the ages. And whatever you do, don't forget to stop in ChanChan's Three Rabbits - Michinpaqui's little social spot dedicated to our hardworking, perservering city Scribe. So come on down and join us at Michinpaqui, the place you'll probably learn everything you didn't want to know about the Americas and then some. Got fish?
INVITATION TO TAHUANTINSUYU
EXPLORE THE LAND OF THE INCA
Anahuarque Coya Yupanqui In the coastal regions of South America arose an empire ruled over by the son of the Sun God himself. This empire was Tahuantinsuyu, "Land of the Four Quarters", and home to the Inca. It was a legacy built upon the foundations of earlier kingdoms and reached from Ecuador to Chile. We invite you to join us in the newly formed Machu Picchu group, Tahuantinsuyu to discuss and explore the world of the Inca and their predecessors. A time span including the Chavin, Huari, Tiahuanaco, Moche and more, reaching across the boundaries of kingdoms and time. Tahuantinsuyu hopes to bring these cultures alive and delve into the inner workings of their societies to paint a picture of life in coastal South America during times past.
CALAKMUL
THE MAYA KINGDOMS
Sak Biyaan ShieldJaguar From the jungles of Mesoamerica arose the Maya Kingdoms - a vast network of rival kingships vying for power and creating cities that would become their legacy. Calakmul was one such city and it lends its name to one of the newest groups in Machu Picchu, a group dedicated to the discussion and exploration of the Maya culture. Join us in discovering the rules and penalties of Pokatok, the Maya Ballgame - or watch the Feathered Serpent's journey down the Temple of Kukulkan in Chichen Itza. Calakmul offers discussions into every aspect of Maya life and we invite you to join us and discover the world of the Maya.
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