The Black Pig’s Dyke is an enormous series of earthworks that traverse nine counties from Donegal to Armagh. But why was it built and when? Was it really the original Irish border or is there another tale to tell? A new publication casts new light on this enigmatic monument, so join us in a chat with the authors and project team to discover the story.

A series of ancient and enigmatic linear earthworks contours the Irish landscape across nine counties, from Donegal to Armagh. The monumentality of these great earthworks has led to them being imbued with folklore and mythology, giving it evocative names like the Worm Ditch, the Dúncla and perhaps most famously, the The Black Pig’s Dyke. A name that derives from an old folk-tale of an enchanted boar that tore up the landscape with its tusks.

Perhaps the best stretch of the Black Pig’s Dyke is a 10km stretch in County Monaghan. It has been long believed to be an ancient boundary that separated Ulster from the rest of Ireland, but was it an Irish version of the Roman Antonine Wall? A new Wordwell publication offers a fresh perspective on the Black Pig’s Dyke and other great linear earthworks, based on Aidan Walsh’s excavations in the 1980s and a new series of investigations by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil through the Black Pig’s Dyke Regional Project. The project reassesses the chronology and interpretation of the monument, and it offers fascinating new insights into these enormous monuments and the role they played in prehistoric Ireland.

In this episode of the Amplify Archaeology Podcast, Neil was delighted to be joined by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, Aidan Walsh and Shirley Clerkin. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this recording was carried out over Zoom, and there so there are a few audio wobbles. Please do bear with us though, it really is a fascinating discussion!

The Black Pig’s Dyke – Key Discussion Points

• Where and what is the Black Pig’s Dyke? – 1 min 08 secs
• The Folklore and Mythology of the monument – 7 min 30 secs
• Are there other monuments like it in Ireland or overseas? – 10 min 15 secs
• The excavation of a section at Aghareagh West in 1982 – 16 min 10 secs
• How did the recent project come about? – 20 min 40 secs
• What was involved and how was the monument re-examined? – 26 min 00 secs
• What did the recent project reveal about the chronology of the monument – how old is the Black Pig’s Dyke? – 31 min 45 secs
• Has the new insights change the way you look at such a familiar monument? – 35 min 18 secs
• What do you think the Black Pig’s Dyke really was? Was it a defensive boundary or something else? – 38 min 45 secs
• When and why was it destroyed by fire? – 52 mins 30 secs
• A discussion on territorial oppida – 57 min 20 secs
• At a time when Ulster’s border is back in the news, what does the Black Pig’s Dyke tell us about territoriality and borderlands? – 1 hour 1 min 18 secs
• The importance of re-evaluation and asking questions about monuments that may feel very familiar to us – 1 hour 5 mins 25 secs
• The future of the Black Pig’s Dyke project, will the site ever be accessible to the public? – 1 hour 6 min 30 secs.

Show notes and links to further information

• The Wordwell publication Materialising Power, the Archaeology of the Black Pig’s Dyke really is brilliant. It’s very accessible and beautifully illustrated. You can order a copy here.
• You can also learn more about the project and the monument at blackpigsdyke.ie.
• You can discover more of the story of Monaghan at the fantastic Monaghan County Museum.
• Cóilín featured on a previous episode of Amplify Archaeology where he told us all about his fascinating excavation at Kilkenny Castle.
• At the end of the show I said our new service should be ready, but I’m really sorry to say it isn’t quite there! – we are still working hard to make sure it is a great user experience, so we invested a bit more time in a couple of features. Sorry for the delay! But we do have a brilliant special offer for the first 100 people to sign up, to be the first to find out when it goes live be sure to join our Tuatha Wait List.