 Time Line Poster: World & American Set 60x35 SAVE! One copy each of the World History Time Line and American History Time Line. Also a … (more info) - $29.95 |
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DIG Extra! A Road to Where by Christine A. Finn Talk about roads in Ireland and you are sure to hear about the controversy regarding the route of the M3 motorway in the area of the world-renowned prehistoric site of Tara, the ancient seat of Irish kings. To opponents, the new road is potentially enemy territory. They see it as the modern world attempting to make its mark in an ancient landscape that should be preserved. The controversy, however, raises an interesting question: What is the purpose of roads? If it is to re-enforce trade routes and commerce, should such development be contained? If the answer depends on circumstances, then what circumstances should determine where the expansion line is drawn? These questions trouble archaeologists as well as planners. But, let's think for a moment about what the arguments might have been thousands of years ago. Checking Out the "Straight Track" The English author Alfred Watkins named his 1925 book about landscape archaeology, "The Old Straight Track." The title referred to the way in which ancient roads were used and constructed. Watkins' study drew, in part, on the controversial phenomenon known as ley-lines. These features, he argued, join points of ancient energy. These would include not only churches, shrines, and wells, but also sites that were of importance to the ancients, but whose significance is unknown today. The idea of the "old straight track" is a way to discuss more familiar roadways, those that link trade routes and businesses. Throughout history, the movement of people, goods, and animals across a land area often has been associated with religious activity. For example, pilgrims who travel to sacred sites that are far from home need places to eat, stay, and pray. Non-pilgrims also stop at these sites, leading to an interaction between the two groups. Let the Toghers "Talk" But this is fast-forwarding. The old straight tracks date back thousands of years to the beginnings of trade. Study of these tracks reveal how the landscape has been affected over time. For example, Corlea in Ireland's County Longford is the location of one of the best examples of track way anywhere in Europe. Surviving remains offer proof of the durability and significance of the route, and an analysis of the material used to construct it shows how the track itself evolved. The sections, known as toghers, are constructed of a variety of woods, sometimes laid many centuries apart. The Corlea Trackway Exhibition Centre has part of an actual track way running through it. Uncovered in the 1980s, it was well-preserved by the bog in which it had been submerged for centuries. But once removed from its boggy environment, it quickly began to deteriorate. For this reason, many of the toghers excavated at Corlea go through a long process of waxing and freeze-drying before being placed in the peat at the Centre for public view. According to bogland specialists, excavation is only part of the process of understanding Ireland's roadways. Medieval texts offer valuable information about how they were built. So, too, do the accounts by pilgrims. Toghers cut through bogs have also left their mark. Through the centuries, the Irish cut these trackways in a shrewd move to disrupt enemy movement. Knowing the exact route of a bog road is the difference between a sure-footed march across a dark and forbidding landscape and a fearful end trapped in unforgiving, sinking terrain. Promises of the Exotic The significance of a road underlines the importance of the trade that traveled along it. Iron Age Ireland can be found if only scantly in finds that show the movement of trade goods along the roads, as much as in the construction itself. Some 2,000 years ago, Ireland bordered lands controlled by the Roman Empire, and so the people were brought into the extraordinary network that stretched from the British Islands into Central Europe and North Africa. The roadways promised exotic items as much as everydayness. Everything traveled the same route; what divided the consumers were trade connections. As particular routes became popular with travelers, the roadways were remade in a material more durable than wood. Were you to cut a section into a well-traveled roadway, you would see the crushed rock used for the roadways of the 21st century, the layer of cobbles and flag stones used in previous centuries, the wooden toghers of prehistoric times, and, at the deepest level, the passageways across landscape that have been lost without evidence. It was soft footprints of that early time that charted a path and thus began the M3's history. |
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