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- History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Religion, Medieval Studies, Landscape Archaeology, and 69 moreArchaeological Method & Theory, Historical Archaeology, Medieval Archaeology, Archaeological GIS, Funerary Archaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Archaeology of Religion, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Maya Archaeology, Celtic Archaeology, Bronze Age (Archaeology), Religion and ritual in prehistory, Archaeological Geophysics, Memory and materiality, Anglo Saxon Burial Studies (Archaeology), Early medieval Britain (Archaeology), Church Archaeology, Sacred Landscape (Archaeology), Chiefdoms (Archaeology), 1st Millennium AD (Archaeology), Irish Archaeology, Anglo-Saxon settlement patterns (Archaeology), Archaeological theory and practice, Archaeology of Personal Adornment, Archaeology of Place, Ritual theory and practice (Archaeology), Iron Age Ireland (Archaeology), Migrations (Archaeology), The archaeology and ethnography of human-animal social relationships, The archaeology of state formation, Olmec archaeology, Early Medieval Wales (Archaeology), Pictish Art, Political Organization, Early medieval church organisation in Ireland (Archaeology), Remote Sensing, Early Christianity, Bioarchaeology, Late Antiquity, Early Medieval History, Ideology, Iron Age, Osteoarchaeology, Kingship (Medieval History), Kingship and systems of rule, Pictish Archaeology, Medieval Isle of Man, Medieval Spain, Visigothic Spain, Picts, Medieval Wales, Post-Roman Britain, Medieval Europe, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Trade and Exchange in the Viking Age, State Formation, Sovereignty, Medieval government, Rulership, Archaeology of Governance, Archaeology of States, Celtic Studies, Viking identities, Ogham, Cruthin, Archaeological Fieldwork, Archaeology of the Avars, and Archaeology of cultedit
- I am a landscape archaeologist interested in the archaeology and history of late prehistoric and early medieval Europ... moreI am a landscape archaeologist interested in the archaeology and history of late prehistoric and early medieval Europe, with a research focus on rulership, royal landscapes, governance and kingdoms in Ireland and Britain. My work is interdisciplinary, but grounded in archaeological methodologies including G.I.S. remote sensing, analysis of excavated material and documentary research. Following a BA in Archaeology and History at UCC I completed an MA in Medieval Archaeology at the University of York, before returning to UCC in 2009 for my PhD (funded by an IRC scholarship, and a WJ Leen scholarship from UCC). This was submitted in September 2013, and examined Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland. My PhD was based on a number of case studies of major regional kingdoms in Ireland, including Munster and the kingship of Cashel, Brega and the kingship of Tara, and Uí Fáeláin (Co. Kildare). Additionally, it incorporated a reassessment of the origins of major dynastic federations in early medieval Ireland (e.g. the Uí Néill, the Éoganachta, Cíannachta and Laigin), as well as a detailed study of assembly places and practices in Ireland within a European context. While acknowledging the distinctive character of the Irish evidence, my work highlights and explores pan-European similarities in issues of assembly, civil society and sacral rulership.
Independent of my doctoral research, I established The Óenach Project in 2011, an Irish Research Council funded research project which addresses issues surrounding the identification of assembly places in Ireland within a European context. This is building a database of assembly landscapes, and applying multi-method remote sensing survey to a number of major assembly landscapes to analyse their temporal and spatial evolution (e.g. Óenach Tailtiu, Óenach Clochair and Óenach Carmain). Additionally, I also pursue a research and survey programme on major late prehistoric and early medieval royal landscapes in Ireland, including the Rock of Cashel (funded by the Heritage Council) and Knockainy (both building from my doctoral research), and I am currently expanding my research and looking to develop collaborative projects on kingdoms and elite landscape in late-Roman and medieval northwestern Europe. I am currently pursuing a project on rulership and governance in Ireland and western Britain, and am interested in developing alternative theoretical frameworks of analysis to 'state-formation', for examining issues of political landscape and kingdom-formation in early medieval Europe.edit
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2018.1473163 This article explores the role that gatherings and temporary assembly places played in creating communities and manufacturing early polities and kingdoms. Whereas the... more
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2018.1473163
This article explores the role that gatherings and temporary assembly places played in creating communities and manufacturing early polities and kingdoms. Whereas the archaeological dimension to polity building has often focused upon monumentality in programmes of political articulation, the role of more ephemeral activities is equally meaningful but nevertheless under-appreciated. With new research into assembly culture in first-millennium AD Europe developing apace, the role of gatherings of various types has come into sharper focus. This article explores the changing nature of temporary gatherings in Ireland and what the changing material signature of these practices says about developing hierarchies, emerging kingdoms and the nexus that local concerns formed with regional practices of rulership.
This article explores the role that gatherings and temporary assembly places played in creating communities and manufacturing early polities and kingdoms. Whereas the archaeological dimension to polity building has often focused upon monumentality in programmes of political articulation, the role of more ephemeral activities is equally meaningful but nevertheless under-appreciated. With new research into assembly culture in first-millennium AD Europe developing apace, the role of gatherings of various types has come into sharper focus. This article explores the changing nature of temporary gatherings in Ireland and what the changing material signature of these practices says about developing hierarchies, emerging kingdoms and the nexus that local concerns formed with regional practices of rulership.
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This paper explores the archaeological evidence for assembly places in early medieval Ireland. Following an appraisal of the broader northwest European context of assemblies, as well as an overview of how such places and practices have... more
This paper explores the archaeological evidence for assembly places in early medieval Ireland. Following an appraisal of the broader northwest European context of assemblies, as well as an overview of how such places and practices have been understood and studied in scholarship on early medieval Ireland, it proceeds by presenting a case study of the landscape of Óenach Carmain. This was the principal assembly place of the early medieval province of Leinster, and as such, a landscape of regional importance. Through this case study, the paper forwards the proposition that places of local assembly in early medieval Ireland often utilised locations of burial, and moreover, that the recently identified phenomenon of ‘cemetery settlements’ or ‘settlement cemeteries’ may be identified as places of local túath scale assembly.
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This paper explores the archaeology and history of the kingdom of Luigne Breg in the east midlands of Ireland. Exploring the role of this kingdom in 5th to 8th century politics, it addresses a longstanding debate about the character and... more
This paper explores the archaeology and history of the kingdom of Luigne Breg in the east midlands of Ireland. Exploring the role of this kingdom in 5th to 8th century politics, it addresses a longstanding debate about the character and origins of the confederacy of dynasties known as the Uí Néill, as well as the genesis of their hegemony in the northern half of Ireland. It concludes with a critique of the ways in which political community have been conceptualized and studied in both Ireland and early medieval Europe.
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This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the archaeological and landscape context of the Balline hoard and related items 9of Iron Age and earlier early medieval date) from the wider east Limerick area. In particular, it examines... more
This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the archaeological and landscape context of the Balline hoard and related items 9of Iron Age and earlier early medieval date) from the wider east Limerick area. In particular, it examines the nearby assembly landscape of Óenach Clochair, the pre-eminent assembly in early medieval Munster, and suggests that from an analysis of LiDAR data, this landscape is likely to have been a significant locus of royal ceremonial, assembly and authority during the late Antique period.
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EXPLORING HOW PLACE was implicated in discourses of power and kingship, this paper investigates the ways in which ideologies and cosmologies informed the production of sacred authority and the iconographies of royal sites in the period c... more
EXPLORING HOW PLACE was implicated in discourses of power and kingship, this paper investigates the ways in which ideologies and cosmologies informed the production of sacred authority and the iconographies of royal sites in the period c AD 400‐800. This paper pertains to the evolution of early medieval kingship but also that institution’s relationship with prehistoric antecedents. It is suggested that the construction of localised small-scale kingships was as meaningful as those of the more prominent institutions such as Tara and Cashel. Through highlighting a NE‐SW axis redolent in royal landscapes, it is argued that kingship’s relationship with place was central to discourses over power, ideology and the ‘holy man’. This saw the early Irish church appropriate aspects of a cosmological scheme linked to the creation and (re)-imagining of royal sites.
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Landscape Archaeology, Early Christianity, Ideology, Early Medieval Archaeology, and 11 moreEarly Medieval History, Religious Conversion, Archaeology of Religion, Iron Age, Scandinavian Archaeology, Norway, Royal Entries, Central Places, Sacrality of the Royal Power, Early Medieval Times, and Royal Seats
This paper presents an analysis of the development of the Rock of Cashel (Co. Tipperary, Ireland) in the 11th and 12th century. This spans the period when the Rock was transformed from the pre-eminent seat of kingship in the southern half... more
This paper presents an analysis of the development of the Rock of Cashel (Co. Tipperary, Ireland) in the 11th and 12th century. This spans the period when the Rock was transformed from the pre-eminent seat of kingship in the southern half of Ireland, into the seat of an archbishopric following the unprecedented events of 1101 when the king of Munster, Muircheartach Ua Briain, granted the Rock to the church and craibdíg ('devout'). This paper suggests that the archaeology of the Rock's development in this period can provide important new insights into the symbolism and practice of kingship, and indeed, the realpolitik associated with the struggle for control of Munster between the Meic Carthaig and Uí Briain kings of Thomond and Desmond.
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This paper represents a detailed reinterpretation of the stratigraphy and development of the famous early medieval royal site of Lagore crannog, located just south of the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath (Ireland). In particular, this paper... more
This paper represents a detailed reinterpretation of the stratigraphy and development of the famous early medieval royal site of Lagore crannog, located just south of the Hill of Tara in Co. Meath (Ireland). In particular, this paper presents an osteological analysis of the human remains uncovered from the early phases of the sites, and brooches the possibility that the early medieval remains might suggest the site was a place associated with violent ritual, and possibly judicial execution between AD 400-800. It argues that the distinctive development of Lagore's archaeology and royal purpose, can only be fully understood by placing the site within its landscape, historical and geo-political contexts.
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Research Interests: Landscape Archaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology, Early Medieval History, Religious Conversion, Early Medieval Ireland, and 9 moreKingship (Medieval History), Iron Age Ireland (Archaeology), Death and Burial (Archaeology), Burial Practices (Archaeology), Conversion, Kings and kingship in 1st Millennium, Burial Customs, Barbarian Kingdoms, and Conversion In Antiquity
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Medieval History, Landscape Archaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology, Medieval Archaeology, and 6 moreEarly Medieval Ireland, Kingship (Medieval History), Iron Age Ireland (Archaeology), Remote sensing and GIS applications in Landscape Research, Early Medieval Europe (Archaeology), and Kings and kingship in 1st Millennium
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The PAS 'round-up'included in the Medieval Britain and Ireland section of the journal Medieval Archaeology (vol. 57). Includes summaries of important finds from 2012 and the following notes: 1. 'A late Saxon silver disc brooch from... more
The PAS 'round-up'included in the Medieval Britain and Ireland section of the journal Medieval Archaeology (vol. 57). Includes summaries of important finds from 2012 and the following notes:
1. 'A late Saxon silver disc brooch from Suffolk' (Andrew Brown)
2. 'Some unusual late 9th- to 12th-century copper-alloy strap-ends or chapes' (Robert Webley and Laura Burnett)
3. 'An aberrant form of 10th-century strap-end' (Andrew Rogerson and Steven Ashley)
4. 'Pilgrim signs of St Margaret of Antioch' (Michael Lewis)
1. 'A late Saxon silver disc brooch from Suffolk' (Andrew Brown)
2. 'Some unusual late 9th- to 12th-century copper-alloy strap-ends or chapes' (Robert Webley and Laura Burnett)
3. 'An aberrant form of 10th-century strap-end' (Andrew Rogerson and Steven Ashley)
4. 'Pilgrim signs of St Margaret of Antioch' (Michael Lewis)
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La territorialidad debe concebirse como una estrategia espacial para influir o controlar recursos y gentes. El territorio es una construcción social creada a través de un doble proceso de apropiación de los recursos y de elaboración de un... more
La territorialidad debe concebirse como una estrategia espacial para influir o controlar recursos y gentes. El territorio es una construcción social creada a través de un doble proceso de apropiación de los recursos y de elaboración de un conjunto de significados culturales. El resultado es un complejo palimpsesto de usos y percepciones del espacio, a veces yuxtapuestas y en otras ocasiones solapados e incluso en conflicto. La configuración territorial de una sociedad implica un lenguaje de dominio social sobre el espacio. En el caso de la Europa altomedieval, se trata de una vía de estudio que permite reconocer con mayor claridad las formas y mecanismos de dominio social a distintas escalas: desde los reinos hasta las comunidades locales, poniendo de relieve los posibles conflictos entre las distintas concepciones del territorio. Un rasgo que parece caracterizar a la Alta Edad Media es la vigencia de determinadas formas de territorialidad que han surgido “de abajo arriba” y la menor intensidad de las generadas “desde arriba”, que pueden ser además muy fluidas. Pero otro rasgo es la diversidad, por lo que nos podemos encontrar con una fuerte heterogeneidad que altera esa visión general.
Para plasmar estas ideas de manera más concreta, se plantean una serie de estudios parciales, que no pretenden cubrir toda la gama de posibilidades y casos. La idea de este encuentro, que forma parte de las actividades del proyecto de investigación Colapso y regeneración en la Antigüedad Tardía y la Alta Edad Media: el caso del noroeste peninsular (Ref. HAR2013-47789-C3-1-P) y del Grupo de Investigación Antigüedad Tardía y Alta Edad Media (ATAEMHIS) de la Universidad de Salamanca, es analizar situaciones distintas dentro del marco altomedieval, buscando la comparación, pero no la analogía, a través de un cuestionario entendido como marco general de reflexión: ¿Qué formas de representación territorial del poder y de las comunidades pueden encontrarse?, ¿qué mecanismos de control se verifican en esos territorios y cuál es su efectividad?, ¿qué modelos de jerarquización territorial se detectan?, ¿quién ejerce el control sobre las funciones de los “lugares centrales”? ¿pueden existir modelos de escasa jerarquización territorial?, ¿cómo se ven afectadas las sociedades locales por la creación de modelos territoriales desde la autoridad central?, ¿cómo se ven afectados los poderes centrales por las fórmulas de territorialidad local?
Para plasmar estas ideas de manera más concreta, se plantean una serie de estudios parciales, que no pretenden cubrir toda la gama de posibilidades y casos. La idea de este encuentro, que forma parte de las actividades del proyecto de investigación Colapso y regeneración en la Antigüedad Tardía y la Alta Edad Media: el caso del noroeste peninsular (Ref. HAR2013-47789-C3-1-P) y del Grupo de Investigación Antigüedad Tardía y Alta Edad Media (ATAEMHIS) de la Universidad de Salamanca, es analizar situaciones distintas dentro del marco altomedieval, buscando la comparación, pero no la analogía, a través de un cuestionario entendido como marco general de reflexión: ¿Qué formas de representación territorial del poder y de las comunidades pueden encontrarse?, ¿qué mecanismos de control se verifican en esos territorios y cuál es su efectividad?, ¿qué modelos de jerarquización territorial se detectan?, ¿quién ejerce el control sobre las funciones de los “lugares centrales”? ¿pueden existir modelos de escasa jerarquización territorial?, ¿cómo se ven afectadas las sociedades locales por la creación de modelos territoriales desde la autoridad central?, ¿cómo se ven afectados los poderes centrales por las fórmulas de territorialidad local?
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Cashel stands as one of the most iconic and well known of Irish royal sites, but yet scholarship has almost entirely neglected it. This paper presents some initial suggestions regarding the landscape and kingship of Cashel. It attempts to... more
Cashel stands as one of the most iconic and well known of Irish royal sites, but yet scholarship has almost entirely neglected it. This paper presents some initial suggestions regarding the landscape and kingship of Cashel. It attempts to get beyond the Rock’s ecclesiastical connotations and examine the political, ceremonial, ideological and cosmological landscape that allowed Cashel emerge as Munster’s provincial seat and challenge the Uí Néill’s Tara hegemony. The traditional explanation of Cashel’s 5th century founding by Conall Corc will be challenged, and it will be suggested that the archaeological evidence from survey and excavations in the area, and within Munster more broadly, paints a picture of a landscape fluxing in status, but competing with other rival royal landscapes for the status of Munster’s provincial capitol. This paper focuses particularly on how that discourse played out at Cashel and in the surrounding landscape by examining the political landscape and its militarisation at the start of the early medieval period. This analysis is placed alongside emerging evidence for a complex and multi-faceted landscape of ceremony centred on the Rock, and focuses particularly, on the question of inauguration and the manner in which Cashel’s kings were made.
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In the early medieval period Cashel was the seat of Munster‟s overkingship and synonymous with the power and authority of the „Éoganachta‟ dynastic federation. By the 8th century, Cashel‟s kings even began challenging the Uí Néill Tara... more
In the early medieval period Cashel was the seat of Munster‟s overkingship and synonymous with the power and authority of the „Éoganachta‟ dynastic federation. By the 8th century, Cashel‟s kings even began challenging the Uí Néill Tara hegemony. Although enjoying an equal position in the Irish hierarchy of kingship with such places as Emain Macha, Rathcroghan and Dún Ailline, and despite obvious importance to understanding the discourses of power, place and ideology in early Ireland, Cashel endures entirely neglected by modern scholarship. The questions of how it became regarded as a seat of pre-eminent kingship, and how its authority was manifested through the landscape have never been posed. This paper presents some intial findings from current research into the development of Cashel‟s landscape and kingship. Particularly, it examines how and when a provincial kingship came to be vested in Cashel itself, and how that institution was rendered manifest in Cashel‟s king and landscape. Integrating evidence from excavation and survey, alongside analyses of toponymy and historical sources, the paper narrates Cashel‟s development from later prehistory through to the early medieval period, and more pertinently, muses upon the „rise of the Éoganachta‟ and development of Munster‟s geopolitical landscape more broadly.
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This paper analysed the roles diverse kinds of royal sites (Óenach (assembly) sites, inauguration sites and dynastic seats) played in producing and maintaining sacral kinsghip and authority. Focusing on the relationship between assembly... more
This paper analysed the roles diverse kinds of royal sites (Óenach (assembly) sites, inauguration sites and dynastic seats) played in producing and maintaining sacral kinsghip and authority. Focusing on the relationship between assembly and inauguration, it examines how these various sites together constituted landscapes of kingship and governance which were implicated in, and evolved through, the development of Munster’s provincial kingship vested in the Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary. Bringing together the results of survey, excavation, fieldwork and documentary and toponymic analyses, it examines the political complexity masked by an 8th century genealogical fiction – that of the ‘Éoganachta’ dynastic federation - which disguises political boundaries, diverse origins and ethnic identities of a number of disparate Munster polities. This analysis identifies various new royal landscapes which competed with Cashel for a provincial hegemony. Analysis of these landscapes temporal and spatial development, and distributions of Ogham stones and Roman material, suggests complex fluxing political identities. The evolving scales of kingship and types of authority these diverse landscapes refered to, constituted and challenged, helps elucidate discourses of power, place and ideology in early Munster. The production of Cashel’s authority, moreover, was an inherrently spatial practice. This paper analyses the discourses played out through the royal landscape of Cashel and its rivals, by examining assembly and inauguration practices alongside the experiential, and indeed, political and mythopoeic, elements of the ceremonies which informed their creation, understanding and re-imagining c.300-800AD.
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Cashel in Co. Tipperary is a royal landscape associated with the over-kingship of Munster and the dynastic federation of the Éoganachta. In contrast to the mythologies associated with early Ireland’s other major ‘provincial’ capitols,... more
Cashel in Co. Tipperary is a royal landscape associated with the over-kingship of Munster and the dynastic federation of the Éoganachta. In contrast to the mythologies associated with early Ireland’s other major ‘provincial’ capitols, such as Rathcroghan or Tara, which invariably portray those landscapes as seats of a sacro-religious kingship from time immemorial, Cashel’s own mythologies portrays its kingship as a late development, associated with the activities of Conall Corc in the 5th century. Moreover, these same origin myths openly admit that the sovereignty of Munster could be vested elsewhere, and indeed, imply that this was the Éoganachta’s ancestral home, Knockainy in Co Limerick. That striking admission, is mirrored by the fact that Knockaniny represents a landscape whose archaeological iconography and mythical associations is eminently comaparable with other major late prehistoric ‘royal’ landscapes in early Ireland.
This paper will explore the idea that the tales regarding Cashel’s genesis represent mythic narratives, intended to be read as geographies of sovereignty. It will present some initial findings from archaeological research into landscapes of kingship in early medieval Munster. It examines the physical and mythical landscapes of Cashel and Knockainy, utilising LiDAR data and Geophysical survey, to analyse these landscapes as places of ceremony and power. It will explore how the developing notion of a ‘provincial’ kingship of Munster, vested in the Rock of Cashel, was promoted at the expense of Knockainy, an effect of the ascendancy of the Éoganachta within Munster. Moreover, the paper will muse upon how Cashel’s kings re-moulded its kingship c.800AD, as a seat of Christian authority specifically designed to rival the nascent high-kingship of Tara, Cashel’s ‘pagan’ antithesis.
This paper will explore the idea that the tales regarding Cashel’s genesis represent mythic narratives, intended to be read as geographies of sovereignty. It will present some initial findings from archaeological research into landscapes of kingship in early medieval Munster. It examines the physical and mythical landscapes of Cashel and Knockainy, utilising LiDAR data and Geophysical survey, to analyse these landscapes as places of ceremony and power. It will explore how the developing notion of a ‘provincial’ kingship of Munster, vested in the Rock of Cashel, was promoted at the expense of Knockainy, an effect of the ascendancy of the Éoganachta within Munster. Moreover, the paper will muse upon how Cashel’s kings re-moulded its kingship c.800AD, as a seat of Christian authority specifically designed to rival the nascent high-kingship of Tara, Cashel’s ‘pagan’ antithesis.
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This paper explored the issue of assembly in early Ireland. In particular, it represented an attempt to understand the nature of the early irish Óenach from an archaeological perspective, and highlight the importance of assembly practices... more
This paper explored the issue of assembly in early Ireland. In particular, it represented an attempt to understand the nature of the early irish Óenach from an archaeological perspective, and highlight the importance of assembly practices to the functioning of civil society. There are c.60 documented óenach-assemblies in Ireland. The fact that roughly only a dozen can be securely located makes this a difficult task. Nevertheless, this paper argues that many of important sites previously thought to be anomalous may be better understood as traditional assembly places, particularly where they have royal associations. It suggests that by recognizing assembly landscapes, archaeologists can begin to contribute much more holistically to understanding the development of early irish society in its historic contexts.
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The Óenach was the pre-eminent political assembly of each level of polity (kingdom, territory or community) within early medieval Ireland. It was associated with communal activities, horse and chariot-racing, feasting, entertainment, the... more
The Óenach was the pre-eminent political assembly of each level of polity (kingdom, territory or community) within early medieval Ireland. It was associated with communal activities, horse and chariot-racing, feasting, entertainment, the promulgation of laws, and the rendering and re-distirbuting of tribute. Indeed, it would seem that it and other types of assembly (for instance, dál) were convened on royal land, and could hold legal, judicial and administrative functions. While not every assembly in Ireland might be termed specifically an Óenach, civil assembly is a universal facet of early medieval society throughout Europe. Thus, we can fairly suggest that it was in such locations that communities gathered together periodically for purposes of debate and commerce, and furthermore, that it was here that discourses of power played out. The fact that we might expect the various sclaes of community, local, regional and supra-local to have had such assemblies, often convened in landscapes specifically set apart for such purposes, suggests that examining such places and practices of assembly, has much to say about issues such as royal estates and land-holding, and indeed, the very functioning of early Irish civil society itself. Specifically, this paper focues on issues of scale and interpretation in examining major assembly landscapes, and suggests specifically that the development of regional assembly practices provides intrigueing insights into developments in the practice of kingship, and the formation of territorial polities, regional identities and administrative and judicial structures.
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In contrast to the other major royal ceremonial landscapes of late Iron Age and early medieval Ireland, which are invariably portrayed as institutions of sacral kingship since time immemorial, the Rock of Cashel, the seat of the... more
In contrast to the other major royal ceremonial landscapes of late Iron Age and early medieval Ireland, which are invariably portrayed as institutions of sacral kingship since time immemorial, the Rock of Cashel, the seat of the Éoganachta kingship of Munster, has long been recognised as distinctive and different. The myths associated with its foundation explicitly state that it was established as a seat of kingship c.400AD. While excavation and survey in the landscape surrounding the Rock of Cashel is uncovering a signficant prehistoric element which provides a context for Roman artefacts from the area, current evidence suggests that Cashel’s significant horizon is early medieval, and as late as 550-600. In contrast, a number of other landscapes with royal associations appear to have functioned as regional centres in late Iron Age Munster. Among these, the most well known is Knockainy in Co Limerick, which appears to be the ancestral home of dynasty which controlled Munster throughout the early medieval period, the Éoganachta. Moreover, a significant concentration of Roman material and late prehistoric monuments in the landscape surrounding Knockainy suggest an exceptional and possibly proto-provincial regional function. This paper examines the development of royal landscapes in late Iron Age Munster, and through princiaplly focusing of Knockainy and Cashel, it examines aspects of the ideology of sacral kingship, and the manner in which these landscapes and the ceremonies enacted therein were implicated in the formation of regional identities, and indeed, powerful and territorialy defined kingships throughout Munster.