Monday, February 11, 2008

destroyed in the name of Progress??


Lismullin site handed over- to road contractors;;By - Unknown.

The Lismullin archaeological site in Co. Meath has been handed over to the contractor building the M3 motorway, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has confirmed. The move means the controversial roadworks may begin on site immediately.NRA archaeologists have already studied the site, which includes a number of stake holes forming an enclosure. Carbon dating suggested they were likely to be at least 2,000 years old.A souterrain from about the 10th. century was also discovered on the site. Archaeologists said it was possibly used for defence during the Viking invasion.The archaeology had also been the subject of a study by an expert group set up by Minister for the Environment John Gormley to determine how best to proceed, once the prehistoric nature of the site had been determined.The expert group which included Conor Newman, the State's foremost archaeological expert on Tara, and Dr. Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum, advised that the archaeological remains were in a "very vulnerable condition". This meant they could not withstand preservation in situ and, therefore, "excavation is desirable and in the best interests of the archaeological remains".Efforts to contact Mr. Newman and Dr. Wallace were not successful yesterday, but the department's website noted the 2,000- year-old remains were "too fragile to remain in situ and must be recorded and removed".It added that "preservation in situ of Lismullin is not an option".

http://www.petitiononline.com/hilltara/petition.html

9 comments:

Katarina said...

How sad. My ancestors were probably Vikings, and even if I'm not proud of what they did, I think old sites like this should be saved - for future generations.
/Katarina (Sweden)

Anonymous said...

Me too.

clairesgarden said...

Katarina and Wildside, I can't believe they are allowed to do this, the world is about to run out of oil and who will need a motorway then??

Alison Dyer said...

Claire,
This is such shortsightedness, once again. Thanks for showing us this magnificent place, and alerting us to its imminent danger. Have signed petition of course. Oh my. How will this generation, this decade, this current 'civilization' been regarded by future generations. Alison

clairesgarden said...

Alison, 'the oil age destroyers'.

gfid said...

wow! that's old! and far more important than a road, i agree. it's the moneymongers, counting their coins again. they don't care if we run out of oil, and are left with millions of miles of dinosaur highways, so long as they fill their pockets with gold before then.

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

I agree with Grannyfiddler. It's money motivated, not intelligence motivated. Sadly we see all too much of this kind of thing, don't we. Thanks for showing this to us and bringing our attention to it, Claire.

Mountain Mama said...

Hello. I'm a new visitor. I found you at Kerri's.
Just a few days ago I was doing a little research on Tara. My ancestors were from the area and I do genealogy research which is how I happened to reaad about the planned motorway through this historical area.
I am always astounded at the ruthlesness of the greedy people who destroy such places of interest. It should be protected.

clairesgarden said...

Grannyfiddler, unfortunately it may not be in their lifetimes so they wont see.
Alice, no intelligence involved! exactly.
Mountain Mama, I'm gobsmacked they are allowed to do this.