Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

I recently reread a post by Colm Moriarty of irisharchaeology.ie [ Facebook | Blog | Shop ] that reminded me of something I wanted to share. He put together a simply beautiful post of Aerial Views of Ireland’s Ancient Royal Sites – go on, have a look & come back when you’re ready! ... I'll wait ... Anyway … A little while ago, for no particularly good reason, I was scanning over central and east Belfast using both Google and Bing maps. Although not visible on the current Google aerial map, the Bing map showed an abandoned ( i.e. not backfilled) portion of the archaeological excavation of the Sirocco Works, an 18th to 20th century glassworks on the banks of the River Lagan. I was involved in a very early stage of the archaeological work there, spending endless, tedious hours watching the removal of turbine sheds and concrete flooring on the site. This was followed up by an excavation of the western portion of the site ( brief report here ). The lot I was...

When you put ‘solstice’ and ‘archaeology’ together in the same sentence, most people immediately think of that jewel of the Salisbury plain: Stonehenge. Throughout its long and varied career and multiple incarnations, the site has probably never been a quiet place at the solstice. Today, with competing claims for access from a variety of groups, including archaeologists, neo-pagans, neo-druids, and their assorted neophytes, you would be hard pressed to get within touching distance of the stones. With some 20,000 people expected this year , your chances of even seeing the solstice sunrise are limited, don’t mind finding any form of personal enlightenment or inner peace … or whatever you might journey there to seek. For the rest of the year, the stones are distinctly off limits to almost everyone. Unless you’re Gandalf or a high-ranking archaeologist with a superb research design your chances of getting close to those famous stones is vanishingly remote. End of story. Except … no...

Ready for another quick sprint through the wild world of freely available PDF papers on Irish archaeology (and related goings on)? Of course you are! Here are my latest picks: Philip Macdonald: Geophysical Survey and Excavation at the Mound of Down, County Down 2012 Art J. Hughes: Late Old Irish lenition and the modern Gaelic Verb Peter J. Smith: Politics and Land in Early Ireland: A Poem by Eochaid Úa Flainn – Éitset áes ecna aíbind Iwan Wmffre: The Qualities and the Origins of The Welsh Vowel [ɨː] Grigory Bondarenko: Studies in Irish Mythology Benjamin W. Roberts & Miljana Radivojević: Invention as a Process: Pyrotechnologies in Early Societies Damian Shiels: Limerick and the American Civil War (PowerPoint Presentation) Aidan O’Sullivan & Tríona Nicholl: Early Medieval Settlement Enclosures In Ireland: Dwellings, Daily Life and Social Identity Aidan O'Sullivan: The Social and Ideological Role of Crannogs in Early Medieval Irela...

( Source ) I’m back with another list of reading suggestions, based on stuff that’s caught my eye on Academia.edu. All you need to do is: 1) Set up a free Academia.edu account [ here ] 2) Follow me! [ here ]* 3) Happy reading! Ian Armit: The abandonment of souterrains: evolution, catastrophe or dislocation? Ian Armit et al. : The ins and outs of death in the Iron Age: complex funerary treatments at Broxmouth hillfort, East Lothian Nicki Whitehouse et al. : Neolithic agriculture on the European western frontier: the boom and bust of early farming in Ireland Nicki Whitehouse & Wiebke Kirleis: The world reshaped: practices and impacts of early agrarian societies Cormac McSparron & Brian Williams: Early Medieval Settlement in north County Antrim: The Significance of Doonmore and Drumadoon John Sheehan: The longphort in Viking-age Ireland Susan Curran: LiDAR and Early Medieval Settlement in Counties Roscommon and Leitrim: a New Angle on Earl...

THE ‘IRELAND IN PLACE’ PROJECT in association with the Kilkenny Campus of Maynooth University  cordially invite you to attend: Remembering John Bradley (1954-2014)  An informal gathering of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to pay tribute to the life and achievements of an outstanding Kilkenny scholar Special guest:  Dr. Thomas Herron (East Carolina University, North Carolina USA) who will speak on ‘John Bradley’s American Journeys’  Introduced by Denis Bergin BUTLER HOUSE, PATRICK ST., KILKENNY Sunday June 28th. 2015 at 3.30 p.m. See also: John Bradley - in memoriam Facebook page John Bradley 1954-2014 | A brief tribute blog post