Archaeology

Frictionless passage in Prehistory…

David Bell on May 30, 2022, 7:15 am

| Readers 5967

The implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol has focused attention on present and future trading relations between this and other regions of the United Kingdom and the European Union. However, a brief reflection on the movement of goods in the past might help bring perspective to the debate. In the words of George Santayana, “those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.” Long before the launch of the first Larne-Cairnryan ferry, the …

@CaralNiChuilin on dealing with the past

John Ó Néill on June 18, 2014, 11:13 am

| Readers 144

Everyone is familiar with legacies of the development boom and bust, such as ghost estates or negative equity. A slightly less obvious legacy was raised in the Assembly yesterday when Carál Ní Chuilín answered a question on the preservation of archaeological collections recovered from sites being developed during the boom. Currently a working group is preparing a report on how to deal with this issue for the Environment Minister, Mark Durkan, who has the majority of responsibility in this area. …

@LMcAtackney on #Archaeology of the Troubles at #PRONI

John Ó Néill on April 3, 2014, 8:53 am

| Readers 89

There is a launch tonight in PRONI’s (under-used!) building this evening for Dr Laura McAtackney‘s new book on The Archaeology of the Troubles/The dark heritage of Long Kesh/Maze prison. There are four speakers at the launch, including Laura and Professor Cahal McLaughlin of Queens’s University Belfast who will set the scene by presenting documented personal narratives of Long Kesh/Maze, recorded as part of the ‘Prisons Memory Archive’ project.A member of PRONI staff will also explore archives that illustrate some unusual historical nuances connected …

“The new A32 Cherrymount link road near Enniskillen will eventually be built on top of the crannog…”

Pete Baker on November 29, 2012, 8:28 pm

| Readers 119

The BBC reports, as do other news outlets, the Northern Ireland Environment Minister’s press release on “the first substantial, scientific excavation of a crannog in Northern Ireland”. A “huge treasure trove of artefacts” was uncovered – potentially of “international importance” – and the crannog was occupied from at least AD 900 to AD 1600. The ministerial press release also announced “the Drumclay Crannog Open Day on Saturday 1st December” – between 9.30 and 3.00pm. The BBC has the DoE images in an online gallery. …

“one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain”

Pete Baker on October 19, 2011, 2:38 pm

| Readers 325

The discovery of an intact Viking boat burial on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula – by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project, a team led by experts from the universities of Manchester and Leicester, CFA Archaeology Ltd and Archaeology Scotland – has generated plenty of coverage. Believed to be from the 10th Century, it’s the first fully intact Viking boat burial site to be excavated on the British mainland. As the BBC report notes The term “fully-intact”, used to describe the find, means the remains …

Odyssey Marine confirm site of shipwreck containing 200 tonnes of silver 300 miles off Irish coast

Pete Baker on September 26, 2011, 10:11 pm

| Readers 57

As the BBC report, the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have confirmed “the identity and location of the shipwreck site of the SS Gairsoppa nearly 4,700 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic, approximately 300 miles off the coast of Ireland in international waters.” And if the historical records and research are correct, the wreck contains 7 million total ounces [200 tonnes] of silver. Worth £600,000 when the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank in 1941, the silver hoard is …

Newgrange: a seasonal gift to the benevolent spirits.

John Ó Néill on December 19, 2010, 1:50 pm

| Readers 68

Update: RTE will have a link here to Newgrange tomorrow morning (before 8.56 am) after checking out the lunar eclipse. Each year a small media circus decamps for a brief moment at the winter solstice to Newgrange in County Meath. The following is a seasonal offering to anyone who wants a bit more background than is usually offered (although obviously reading the likes of Geraldine and Matt Stout’s Newgrange also helps). The mound at Newgrange has a complex history, with the famous roof box that allows …

The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention?

Pete Baker on November 11, 2010, 3:33 pm

| Readers 350

That’s the title of University of Leicester archaeologist Simon James’ book [published in 1999] in which he attempts to separate history from the myth – available on Amazon. There’s also an introduction to his argument here. And as Will Crawley notes, Simon James will deliver a free public lecture tonight at 6pm at W5 in the Odyssey Complex – tea and coffee from 5.30pm. It’s the inaugural lecture in a Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure sponsored ‘Exploring Culture’ series of lectures. Here’s …

“This is a really exciting find”

Pete Baker on November 1, 2010, 2:23 pm

| Readers 58

It may not be as spectacular as the Iron Age gold torcs, or the Anglo-Saxon hoard, but the collection of Bronze Age axe heads, spear tips, and other 3000-year-old metal objects unearthed in an Essex field is equally impressive in its own way. And they haven’t, yet, revealed what’s in the pot[tery]. “This is a really exciting find,” said local archaeologist Laura McLean. “To find a hoard still located in its Bronze Age context, below the level of ploughed soil, is very …

An archive of wondrous things

Pete Baker on July 18, 2010, 5:03 pm

| Readers 5

An interesting article in today’s Observer tells the story of a soon-to-be-complete online archive of wondrous things – the notes, photographs and diaries of archaeologist Howard Carter’s excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb. From the Observer article This is the Griffith Institute – arguably the best Egyptology library in the world. One of its most prized collections incorporates the notes, photographs and diaries of the English archaeologist Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamun’s resting place in 1922. The only intact pharaoh’s tomb ever discovered, it …