National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Ancient "Royal Temple" Discovered in Path of Ireland Highway


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

An aerial view shows sections of a large circular enclosure, partly covered by protective plastic tarps, which was uncovered recently by road crews working northwest of Dublin, Ireland. Among the few artifacts found at the site so far is a ring-headed pin (inset) dating to Ireland's Iron Age about 2,000 years ago.

The enclosure is part of a prehistoric site that archaeologists believe may have been a temple associated with the nearby Hill of Tara, described by one archaeologist as Ireland's equivalent of Stonehenge.

Photographs courtesy Mary Deevy/Ireland National Roads Authority