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Showing posts from November, 2012

Robert “Santa” Chapple’s guide to Christmas gifts for and from the discerning archaeologist

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[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the button at the end. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] Replica Viking Armrings from Montague Heritage Service Well, folks, it’s that time of year again, when the axial tilt of the earth means that we’re heading for the annual solstice celebrations … Yule … Beiwe Festival … Christmas … Chawmos … Shab-e Chelleh whatever you’re having yourself! However we chose to celebrate it, there’s generally a lot of eating, drinking, being thankful for having survived the worst of the winter, and gift giving. It was with an eye to offering suggestions as to what moneyed loved ones might wish to purchase for the archaeologists in their lives that I thought about asking on my various Facebook pages ( Irish Radiocarbon & Dendrochronological Dates | The William Dunlop Archaeological Photographic Archive ). Unsurprisingly, but largely unhelp

Archaeological Excavations at Tullahedy County Tipperary. Neolithic Settlement in North Munster: Review

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Rose M. Cleary & Hilary Kelleher. The Collins Press, Cork, 2011. xxiv+456pp. ISBN-13: 9781848891333. £34 ( via Amazon ) or €39.99 (via The Collins Press ). [** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the button at the end. If you think the review is useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] Tullahedy, Co. Tipperary, is a site that (it seems to me, at least) has been hanging around on the edges of knowledge for some time. The earliest mention of the excavations that I can find in my own library is a brief note in Archaeology Ireland from 1998, noting the richness of the recovered finds and the depth of stratigraphy there ( Anon. 1998 ). This mention, confined to the bottom of a single page, related to the initial set of excavations carried out as part of the N7 Nenagh Bypass. At this time the site was partially excavated and the remainder preserved in situ . When the bypass was upgraded the remainder of the

Drumclay, Cherrymount, a crannog in crisis

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Paper presented to the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland , Holiday Inn Express, Belfast 2nd November 2012 Matthew Seaver, Jean O’ Dowd, Robert M Chapple Good afternoon, I am presenting a joint paper on behalf of my colleagues Jean O’ Dowd and Robert M Chapple. We are part of the group ‘Cherrymount, a Crannog in Crisis’, a social media page set up as a response to the threat to the excavation of Drumclay crannog, County Fermanagh ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/254450291340252/ ). The crannog was directly impacted by the ground works associated with the A32 link road under construction in Enniskillen, Fermanagh. It is a spectacularly well preserved site and from available information contains layer upon layer of preserved structures, fences and walkways. At its later levels it contains well stratified Ulster Coarse Ware and it preserves a large range of waterlogged wooden artefacts such as vessels, bowls, platters and leather objects such as shoes. Among the reported