10 Archaeological and Cultural Heritage

10.11 Rivers

The importance of rivers in archaeology was given added recognition in 1998 with the issuing of a memorandum from Dúchas The Heritage Service that requires archaeological assessments to take these water bodies and associated features into account. This was due to the fact "that linear developments particularly roads often cross rivers and impact on mills, fords, old bridges and find spots of archaeological material. Other sites such as castles and longphort (Viking) settlements are also found beside rivers" (Memo from Dúchas re. River Crossings and Bridges, 23/04/98). Rivers and waterways have always attracted human activity for a variety of reasons, from their obvious use as source of water to their use as a means of transport, as a source of energy and for their spiritual, religious or ritual associations. Additionally the former flood plains of large waterways provided a fertile, well-irrigated and relatively flat landscape suitable for agricultural practices from the earliest times of Irish farming (c. 4,000 BC).