Table of Contents

Acknowledgements   Introduction Chapter 1. The Invented Past Chapter 2. The Mythic Past Chapter 3. Sacral Kingship—the mythology Chapter 4. Kings in Archaeology Chapter 5. The Otherworld   Chapter 6. The Sacred Tree   Chapter 7. The Ancestors of Epona   Epilogue   Notes   References

About the Author

John Waddell is a former Professor of Archaeology in the National University of Ireland Galway and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His publications include Foundation Myths: the beginnings of Irish archaeology (2005), Rathcroghan: archaeological and geophysical survey in a ritual landscape (with J. Fenwick and K. Barton in 2009), Archaeology and Celtic Myth (2014), and Myth and Materiality (2018). A revised fourth edition of The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland is in press.

Reviews

I salute Myth and Materiality as a valuable study.
*Folklore Society*

Not just the scholar but also the general reader will find this book of interest, shedding as it does new light on our interpretation of Ireland’s mythic past.
*Books Ireland*

There is much for the archaeologist to unpack in this ambitious text…
*Current Archaeology*

...the scope of the book is impressive and Waddell demonstrates convincingly that it is important to explore the themes covered in this book at such a scale.
*The Archaeological Journal*

...an important contribution on the potential of myth to support archaeological evidence, bringing together symbols and ritual practices intended to convince the specialist and laymen alike.
*Journal of Folklore Research*