DUBLIN, Ire. – Last month there was intriguing news for the Pagan community across the UK and Ireland: the recent discovery of an idol estimated to date from around 100 years before the arrival of St Patrick.
The idol was discovered by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) during the construction of a new road at Gortnacrannagh, which is 6km (3.7 miles) from the prehistoric royal site of Rathcroghan.
A replica of the recently discovered wooden idol from Gornacrannagh, Ireland is to be carved by archaeologists from @AMS_Ireland_UK & @EArchaeol on Saturday 22-Aug-21 Craggaunowen’s Living Past Experience @ShannonHeritage https://t.co/nPpvxFD8C5 pic.twitter.com/FUUOXp98US
— European Association of Archaeologists (@archaeologyEAA) August 22, 2021
Although this does not always take place, it is customary for private archaeological firms to be engaged in rescue digs when new roads or other projects are underway, and this particular dig was funded by the Government of Ireland, administered by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) through Roscommon County Council.
The idol is not the only artifact that has emerged from the bogs in this region: two ancient wooden wheels were found here in the 1970s, dating from around the same period as the idol.
The Gortnacrannagh idol is around two and a half metres long (8ft) and carved from oak. It has a human head and nine horizontal notches along its body.
Dr. Eve Campbell from AMS said that she believes it to be a Pagan deity of some kind:
“Our ancestors saw wetlands as mystical places where they could connect with their gods and the Otherworld. The discovery of animal bone alongside a ritual dagger suggests that animal sacrifice was carried out at the site and the idol is likely to have been part of these ceremonies.”
A replica of the idol has been commissioned for the Rathcroghan Centre, made by AMS itself in collaboration with members of the University of Cork College (UCC) Pallasboy Project and the University College Dublin (UCD) Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture.
Dr. Ros Ó Maoldúin of AMS said, “Since the Gortnacrannagh Idol is such a unique and significant find, we are making a replica to help us understand the idol better and appreciate how it was made.”
It has been possible for people to see the carving of this replica in action at the Craggaunowen Archaeology Park in County Clare during the last weekend of August, but the replica will now be viewable to visitors at the Rathcroghan Centre.
The original idol has been taken to the University College Dublin, and conservator Susannah Kelly will embark on a three-year project to study the idol and conserve it. It will then be donated to the National Museum of Ireland.
The accompanying dagger does not seem to have been used to cut meat or for other purposes, and experts think that it was used once only, perhaps for an animal sacrifice.
Although wooden artifacts such as this recent find tend to be preserved in bogs, there are not many of them in Ireland. Fewer than 20 have been discovered so far and most of them date from around 400 CE, and the latest find is the largest.
Wood specialist Cathy Moore said, “The lower ends of several figures were also worked to a point suggesting that they may once have stood upright. Their meaning is open to interpretation, but they may have marked special places in the landscape, have represented particular individuals or deities or perhaps have functioned as wooden bog bodies, sacrificed in lieu of humans.”
TII will be producing a book about the site in due course. Roscommon County Council Resident Archaeologist Deirdre McCarthy said, “Road projects such as the N5 provide a significant opportunity for the investigation of our archaeological heritage. Gortnacrannagh is an excellent example. Were it not for the road, we would never have known about this extraordinary site.”
Researchers do not know yet if the discovery of this idol is related in any way to the site at Rathcroghan itself. The name of this complex derives from Ráth Cruachan, the Fort of Cruachan, named in legend after the handmaid of a sidhe maiden. Experts believe the site to be the centre of the territory of the Connachta, the people who ruled this part of the country in prehistoric times.
Aerial photograph of the Multivallate Ringfort at Rathrá, County Roscommon, Ireland -Image credit: West Lothian Archaeological Trust (Jim Knowles, Frank Scott and John Wells) – West Lothian Archaeology, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rathcroghan is a massive complex, containing some 240 different archaeological sites, and extends in time up to the early Medieval period. The site is mentioned in a number of early Medieval manuscripts as the site of one of Ireland’s great fairs, and also one of its largest Pagan cemeteries.
It is also the start and endpoint of the great Irish epic of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, and the seat of the warrior queen Medb.
Additionally, the site is home to a cave, Oweynagat (the Cave of the Cats), known in Medieval times as Ireland’s gateway to Hell, and is sometimes said to be the home of the Morrighan, the goddess of battle and many other things besides.
Entrance to Oweynagat (the Cave of Cats), a souterrain at Rathcroghan neolithic site, Co Roscommon – Image credit: Gillaween – CC BY-SA 4.0
Some of the many legends associated with this ancient site include tales of dangerous supernatural entities emerging from Oweynagat at times, including small red birds which wither anything they breathe on, otherworldly pigs with similar properties, and three magical wildcats which are tamed by the hero Cúchulainn.
In one legend, a three-headed rampaging monster comes out of the cave to ravage the land. The Morrighan herself is also said to come in and out of the cave, in a chariot pulled by a one-legged horse.
Given all this, some of the comments regarding the idol in the Irish press have suggested that AMS might like to consider putting it back rather quickly!
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