The Discovery Programme

Tara is one of the best-known and important ancient sites in Ireland. Archaeologically, there are a number of monuments visible on the hilltop itself and limited excavations during the 1950s have demonstrated that important activity took place on the site from the Neolithic onwards. In addition, because of the historical importance of Tara, there exists a substantial body of early literary references to, and descriptions of, the site. Despite this, until the Discovery Programme began its work at Tara in 1992, very little was actually known about the monuments there, their function and relationship to each other and the way the site was actually used. The purpose of the Tara Project is to change that.

Phase 1 of the Tara Project was initiated in 1992. In order to make the most of the material that was available, the Discovery Programme adopted a twin-strand approach involving (1) an archaeological survey of the monuments on the Hill of Tara itself and in its surrounding hinterland; and (2) a literary survey, based around early Irish texts and references to Tara.