Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

I recently became aware that I had a couple of gaps in my collection of Emania, The Bulletin of the Navan Research Group. I promptly popped along to the http://www.curach-bhan.com website and they were soon in my possession. Today's post is a shameless plug for this great Journal and the hard work that Curach Bhán publications do to bring it together. Go on - have a look at their website, browse their wares, order a couple of volumes! If you want to see independent journals & their publishers* survive you've got to support them. Emania – Bulletin of the Navan Research Group 22, 2014 Ranke de Vries: The Ulster Cycle in the Netherlands J.P. Mallory and Gina Baban: Excavations in Haughey’s Fort East Meriel McClatchie: Food Production in the Bronze Age: Analysis of Plant Macro-remains from Haughey’s Fort, Co. Armagh Gina Baban: Late Bronze Age Pottery from the Excavations at Haughey’s Fort East Dirk Brandherm: Late Bronze Age casting debris and other base metal...

< Table of Contents Doors should be common survivals from the past. Should be, but aren’t. As long as we’ve had formalised buildings, we’ve wanted ways to other people out and our stuff safely in. Doors are the simple, reliable technology that accomplishes this. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, historic doors simply don’t seem to survive in anything like the numbers they should. Partly, it’s because they face the weather and by the time they’re replaced, they’re more likely to be burnt for firewood than reused in another way. I also suspect that doors, from at least the medieval period onwards, could be prestige items and were salvaged and reused for as long as possible before they had to be replaced. As an analogy, I’m thinking of the repeatedly reused door jambs at Deer Park Farms, Co Antrim – if the door posts were valuable enough to be rescued and recycled into later houses, perhaps solid doors were too. However you look at it, early doors (excuse...

The British Museum holds six items identified as coming from Co Leitrim. The majority of these (5) are assigned to the Bronze Age while the remaining artefact is assigned to the Early Medieval period. The most common object type represented are spear-heads (4). All six artefacts are made of Metal. < Table of Contents Bronze Age: Metal items Leitrim spear-head OA.120 Copper alloy basal-looped, socketed spear-head. Blade: leaf, base curved, flat. Midrib section: lozenge with wide ridge. Incorporated loops, rectangular plates. Socket damaged. Blade edges sharp, corroded. Dark brown, bronze and green. http://britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=807703&partId=1 Kiltubbrid spear-head 19231206.100 Copper alloy socketed spear-head, pegged. Wood traces in socket. http://britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=807706&partId=1 Cloone dirk WG.1600 ...

< Table of Contents There is a tendency among some archaeologists, myself included, to describe all and any pottery with a beardy face on it as ‘Bellarmine’. It’s supposed to be named after Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, not for his venomously anti-Protestant views as mocking him for his equally vociferous dislike of alcohol. Somewhere along the way, the name seems to have lost favour and the worthy alternative of ‘salt-glazed stoneware’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it. The jug on the left dates to around 1600 and was made in Frechen, Germany. The three medallions around its waist identify it as having been made for Jan Allers,  a Dutch bottle dealer. The patchy colourtion in blue appears to be the result of a misfiring accident – the bottle may not have come out looking exactly right, but it was still able to serve its purpose. The one on the right is slightly earlier, dating to around 1540, and is from Cologne. The face is beautifully sculpted, being close...