The Moynagh Lough Project

Director and Principal Investigator: Michael Potterton

One of the most significant archaeological sites ever discovered in Ireland, Moynagh Lough in Co. Meath is an exceptional multi-period wetland site with rich artefactual assemblages from multiple levels and phases, most notably the early Middle Ages. It was excavated between 1980 and 1998 and the post-excavation phase of research recommenced at MU in 2018 under the directorship of Michael Potterton. Even though it has not yet been fully published, there is not an archaeologist in the country who has not heard of the site. With funding from the Royal Irish Academy, the National Monuments Service, Meath County Council, Creative Ireland and the Heritage Council, our core goals are to see the excavation report published and to transfer the paper and archaeological archive safely to the National Museum of Ireland. In 2024 we continued our collaborations with local and international colleagues, as well as MU SPUR students, publishing a 34-page interim report (‘The Moynagh Lough Project: an update on post-excavation research’) in the journal of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, Ríocht na Midhe 35 (2024). Michael delivered ‘6,000 years of settlement at Moynagh Lough’ as the 2023 annual Séamus Mac Gabhann Lecture jointly for the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society and Nobber Heritage Centre at the George Eogan Cultural and Heritage Centre in Nobber. As part of the broader context of lake settlement in Ireland, Michael contributed two chapters to a new interdisciplinary book on Lakes in Ireland: mirrors of change (2024). The first major volume of research outcomes from the Moynagh Lough Project is due to be published soon (see here). You can find out more about the Moynagh Lough Project in episode 34 of the Amplify Archaeology podcast here.