Riches of prehistoric Ulster put on display: A pounds 4m archaeological park has opened on the site of an ancient tribal centre near Armagh

ULSTER'S first capital - a prehistoric royal centre near modern-day Armagh - is to become one of the first archaeological parks in Europe, in a project backed by academics and businessmen from both sides of the Irish border.

The project at Navan has as its joint patrons Ireland's top Roman Catholic and Protestant clergymen - the Primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, and the head of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames.

Hundreds of schools from both the North and the republic are expected to send children to the park to learn about Ireland's pre-history and mythology, and northern Irish Catholic and Protestant schools will be paired to study there. The 65-acre park has just opened to the public, with a museum to help visitors understand the prehistoric earthworks and sacred lakes which are the only surviving features from the capital.

Known in late prehistoric times as Emain Macha, the capital flourished between the fourth century BC and the fourth century AD, although the site continued to have political and religious significance for at least another 1,000 years.

Emain Macha itself, an earthwork enclosure about 250 yards across, has within it a large grass-covered mound, the site of what appears to have been a great temple, ritually burnt down in 94 BC.

There is a sacrificial lake, Loughnashade, where, 200 years ago, a farmer discovered four 2,000- year-old bronze trumpets and several human skulls. There is also the 'King's Stables', a 10th-century BC, man-made sacrificial pool in which archaeologists found dog, deer, cow, pig and sheep bones - and the deliberately sliced off front half of a human skull. A 10th-century BC earthwork enclosure called Haughey's Fort is now largely eroded. Inside it archaeologists found evidence of a high-status settlement - including the skull of a giant dog.

On display are dozens of original and copies of prehistoric weapons, tools, jewellery and other objects found around Emain Macha, backed up by models and interactive videos.

Emain Macha was one of only two Irish tribal centres known to Roman geographers. The second-century Greek author, Claudius Ptolemy, included what may well be Emain Macha in his world atlas under the name of Isamnion.

The grandeur of prehistoric Emain Macha is reflected in the epic poems of the Ulster Cycle - the Celtic world's equivalent of the Greek Iliad and Odyssey. The stories probably date from within a few centuries before or after Christ, but were only written down in the 7thto 12th centuries AD.

The huge round temple which has been excavated by archaeologists may have had a flat thatched roof supported by 270 timber columns. It was filled with stones and burnt down - like a vast sacrifice - probably within a year of being built.

In the fifth century AD, St Patrick is said to have preached at Emain, and in the Middle Ages the high kings of Ireland feasted there. In 1387 a claimant to the throne of Ulster built a house at Emain.

The museum and park - costing pounds 4m to set up - have been financed mainly by the European Community's Regional Development Fund, the US-based charity the International Fund for Ireland, and the British Government.

(Photograph omitted)