IRELAND AND THE ‘VAGARIES OF WAR’
This piece was originally published at the Archaeology Group Blog: Then Dig last month… There’s a somewhat long tirade by way of an introduction to this post on distance, perceptions from afar, and the current state of Ireland so, indulge, or bear with, me while I set the scene! Writing in the Irish Times just […]
PEARSE STREET ATHLONE MONITORING
Pearse Street, Athlone, Co. Westmeath Archaeological Monitoring 20365 24120 NA 10E430 A programme of archaeological monitoring was carried out in the vicinity of the Revenue Commissioners Building off Pearse Street, Athlone, Co. Westmeath and along Pearse Street. The works involved the installation of a proposed gas main extension along Pearse Street (approx. 77m of 125mm […]
SLIGO TOWN MONITORING
Various, Sligo Town Archaeological Monitoring Various Various 10E285 Archaeological monitoring of engineering slit trenches and test pits in advance of the proposed Sligo town Water Conservation scheme took place around Sligo town and environs between mid October and mid November 2010. Moore Group, in a previous archaeological assessment (March 2010) for the project, had demarcated […]
TESTING AT RTE
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Archaeological Testing 318426/230914 DU022-084 (Vicinity of) 10E22 A programme of archaeological testing was carried out in greenfield areas at the RTÉ Campus, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 between the 27th and 29th of January 2010. The proposed development consists of the future provision of a new broadcasting facility at the RTÉ Campus. The work […]
EXCAVATIONS 2010
From today we’ll be adding the submissions we’ve made to the excavations website to the blog. From their website: The database contains summary accounts of all the excavations carried out in Ireland – North and South – from 1970 to 2007. It has been compiled from the published Excavations Bulletins from those years, with a […]
‘THEN DIG’ POST
There’s a somewhat long tirade by way of an introduction to this post on distance, perceptions from afar, and the current state of Ireland so, indulge, or bear with, me while I set the scene! Writing in the Irish Times just before the visit of the queen of England to the Republic of Ireland in […]
‘THEN DIG’ THEN…
Then Dig is an archaeological group blog conceived after a popular blog carnival leading up to the Blogging Archaeology session at the 76th meeting of the Society for American Archaeology and is the brainchild of Colleen Morgan and Alun Salt, with the goal of bringing the best of archaeological blogging together in one place. It’s […]
PAST ORDERS AT DIGGING THE DIRT
And in other news, Digging the Dirt is serialising a piece in this months Current Archaeology – see here for part 1 and here for part 2…and here for part 3 or for those of you in the UK Check out the latest Current Archaeology, or tune to Digging the Dirt next Friday for the […]
IRISH HOSPITALITY
For those of you who have always wondered what Ireland was like for the early Christian inhabitants of the place, and let’s face it, we all have at some stage, here’s a slightly distilled version of P.W. Joyce’s excellent introduction to his (1905) “A Smaller Social History of Ireland” available in full on the interweb here. […]
MOORE GROUP’S RESOURCE CENTRE
Our Resource Centre aims to be an open-source comprehensive tool and source of relevant information to anyone undertaking a range of activities or projects on the Island or off the shore of Ireland. The Centre will address the areas of planning, cultural heritage, coastal and marine issues, the natural environment and biodiversity and related issues. Stage 1 […]
THE DAY OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Via WAC: The Day of Archaeology 2011 is an online project that will allow archaeologists, professional and volunteers, working all over the world to document what they do on one day, July 29th 2011. Archaeologists taking part in the project will document their day through photographs, videos and written blog posts. These will then be collected […]
NEOLITHIC POLISHED STONE AXEHEAD
Here’s another find – this one’s from 2009 and was recovered during monitoring of excavation works for a park and ride facility at NUI, Galway. Archaeological monitoring at the development site exposed no features of archaeological significance. However the stray find of a Neolithic polished stone axehead recovered from up-cast material from a service trench […]
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROFESSION IN IRELAND
A workshop on the future of the archaeological profession in Ireland was held in Kilkenny on 8th March, 2011. The aim was to discuss the crisis facing the profession and come up with solutions. The current best estimate by the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (IAI) of numbers working in the profession is 350 from […]
ENNIS PALSTAVE
In light of the Irish Times’ History of Ireland in 100 Objects series, we’re republishing our Ennis Bypass Palstave post. This was the first artefact in our virtual museum and is deep in the bowels of our blog now. So here it is again: We’ve also presented a report on the find including a description […]
IAI STATEMENT
Statement from the Board of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, 18th February 2011. European Union pursues legal action while state reduces numbers of archaeologists engaged in regulation. The Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (IAI) notes with concern that the EU Commission has initiated a second legal action against the Government over its failure to […]
COCKLES AND PISEOG’S
Area 2 at Oranmore comprised a recent midden (basically a 19th century dump) and didn’t contain anything of any great significance – mostly oyster shells etc.. The stratigraphy of the midden revealed that the deposited shells were located immediately below the sod, and rested above the sub-soil, which in turn was sitting on glacial till. During the […]
COIN FROM ORANMORE
Pictured above is the coin recovered from the site at Oranmore – you can read the introduction to the excavation in this post: http://www.mooregroup.ie/2011/02/excavations-at-oranmore/ Found with burial 1, the coin was located close to the left hand of the skeleton indicating that it was deliberately placed with the individual at the time of burial. After conservation […]
BUCKLE FROM ORANMORE
Pictured above is the buckle recovered from the site at Oranmore – you can read the introduction to the excavation in this post: http://www.mooregroup.ie/2011/02/excavations-at-oranmore/ A copper alloy buckle with pin fragment attached was found in the topsoil covering Area 1. It is likely to be a disturbed find from the burial ground. The Romans were […]
EXCAVATIONS AT ORANMORE
This is the first of a series of posts on the exciting results of excavations carried out by Moore Group at Pairc and Clochair, Oranmore, County Galway between 2008 and 2010. A number of sites were excavated in advance of construction of a new supermarket and associated access and other services. Today we’ll describe the […]
FULACHT BEER PRESENTATION
Two years ago Billy and I (Declan) gave a presentation at the National Roads Authority’s annual archaeology seminar about the fulacht beer theory. Now that I’ve figured out how to post VIMEO videos to wordpress – here’s a video of the presentation… Note the Erratum: Dr. Patrick McGovern, sometimes referred to as the Indiana Jones […]
THE MILLING PROCESS
As a follow up on our last post on Raheen Mill in Clonmel, here Billy explains the milling process which was likely followed at the site in a little more detail. The eighteenth century Mill at Raheen was typical of it’s time, comprising a vertical waterwheel used to grind grain, principally oats or corn. The […]
RAHEEN MILL EXCAVATION, CLONMEL, CO. TIPPERARY
Author and Director: Billy Quinn Here’s a summary of excavation work carried out by Billy for Moore Marine at Raheen Mill, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary last year. The work was carried out in advance of the construction for a flood defence wall on the southern side of the River Suir at the site of the former […]
Quicklinks
Two small items today, via the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland.. ‘The new Irish Walled Towns Network Facebook page has just come online. Its hoped that all members of the Network and others interested in medieval town walls will use this page as a forum to exchange ideas. Anyone can upload photos, news items or […]
Public Procurement Shits n’ Giggles
Recently I was asked by a local journalist would I be interested in her doing a ‘day in the life of an archaeologist’ feature. I replied to her saying that, although it would be good marketing, my job these days would make very dull reading… Although we have some projects monitoring water, sewage schemes etc.. […]
