Road to the West: A Road to the Past. Vol. 2. The Archaeology of the A4 / A5 Road Improvements Scheme from Dungannon to Ballygawley

Major developments by TransportNI have seen the A4 and A5 between Dungannon and Ballygawley upgraded. These developments presented an opportunity for archaeologists to uncover and investigate many features that would have previously been hidden. The sites ranged in date from the Late Mesolithic (c.5500BC) through to the end of the post medieval period (c. AD 1914). The excavations shed light on the lives of the people who inhabited this part of Ireland and showed the nature of the dwellings they people lived in, the food that they ate, and how it was produced, and how people were treated after they had died. This volume encompasses the findings of the many archaeologists that worked on the excavations. Reconstruction paintings by artist Philip Armstrong bring life to the most significant archaeological sites. Acknowledgements vii Foreword xi Introduction 1 Environmental History 5 The First Settlers 13 The Neolithic 19 The Bronze Age 49 The Iron Age 101 Early Medieval Period 113 Medieval Period 139 Epilogue 145 Conclusions 151 Chapter Notes 154 Radiocarbon Dates 159 List of Archaeological Excavation Sites 182 Bibliography 186 Appendix 194