In 2016 the IHS provided logistical support to excavations at the site of Dún Ailinne, a large circular enclosure, located on the Hill of Knockaulin Co. Kildare. The excavations at Dún Ailinne are directed by Dr. Susan Johnston of George Washington University. Documentary sources traditionally refer to Dún Ailinne as one of four Irish ‘royal’ sites – important pre-Christian social and political centres. Although previous excavations in the 1960s indicate the site has seen activity since the Neolithic period, the site’s archaeological assemblage is dominated by Iron Age artefacts indicating it was an important centre of ceremonial and ritual activity at this time.

From 2006-2008, archaeologists from George Washington University, New York University (USA), and the National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland) conducted geophysical surveys within the enclosure, identifying new possible features outside the footprint of the 1960s dig. New excavations in 2016 identified an enclosure – a c. 1m deep ditch – as well as animal bone and burnt posts.

References

• Johnston, S.A., 2017. Dún Ailinne: Then and Now. In P. J. Crabtree & P. Bogucki (Eds.), European Archaeology as Anthropology: Essays in Memory of Bernard Wailes (pp. 107–136). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
• Johnston, S. A., Campana, D., & Crabtree, P., 2009. A Geophysical Survey at Dún Ailinne, County Kildare, Ireland. Journal of Field Archaeology, 34(4), 385–402.