Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

Programme Monday, 5th November Location: Kilkenny 12am-7.30pm             Delegate registration at The Set Theatre 1pm-3.30pm               Tour of Medieval Mile Museum, Rothe House Garden and Talbot's Tower with Cóilín O'Drisceoil 3.00pm-4.30pm         Tour of the Heritage Council with Colm Murray 7pm-8.15pm               Archaeology and society. Lecture by Prof. Brian Fagan (Venue: The Set Theatre) Tuesday, 6th November Location: Kilkenny 9am                              Delegate registration in The Set Theatre 9.45am-4.30pm         Creativity and community and well-b...

[If you like what I write, please consider throwing something in the  Tip Jar  on the right of the page. Alternatively, using  The Reading Room  portal (top of page) for shopping with Amazon brings in some advertising revenue and costs you nothing] < Back to the contents page The final speaker of the day was the wonderful Prof. Aidan O'Sullivan of UCD. The session chair, Dr. Nóra Bermingham, introduced him as the person who would allow us to see Drumclay in the broader context. She explained that he has been working with crannogs for much of his career and has published widely on the subject. Following an enthusiastic round of applause  O’Sullivan i ntroduced himself to the audience and noted that his task was to answer the question as to 'why people chose to live on crannogs in lakes?'. He explained that the wanted to think about the ways in which Early Medieval people thought about islands and crannogs; the various motivations for building, inhab...

[If you like what I write, please consider throwing something in the  Tip Jar  on the right of the page. Alternatively, using  The Reading Room  portal (top of page) for shopping with Amazon brings in some advertising revenue and costs you nothing] < Back to the contents page In the final session of the day the chair, Dr. Nóra Bermingham, introduced the first speaker, Ian Riddler. His recent work has included a re-examination of Early Medieval combs from Ireland. He began by noting that the act of combing of hair would have been a very private and intimate act and would have been undertaken outdoors, away from other people. However, the finished product – the hairstyle – would have been a very public result. Even if the hair is covered, the act of covering is itself a very public statement. In this way, he argues, combs fit somewhere between this private act and the public appearance. In this way they can give information about attitudes towards groo...

[If you like what I write, please consider throwing something in the  Tip Jar  on the right of the page. Alternatively, using  The Reading Room  portal (top of page) for shopping with Amazon brings in some advertising revenue and costs you nothing] < Back to the contents page Following Dr. Eileen Reilly’s excellent presentation on on the insect and parasite evidence , session chair, Jackie McDowell, invited Dr. Emily Murray to the podium. Dr Murray was introduced as an experienced field archaeologist and zooarchaeologist, based at Queen’s University, Belfast. She noted that the Drumclay assemblage is extremely important for a number of reasons, not least of which is the rarity of large collections of animal bone from crannogs. While important crannog excavations were carried out in the past, there were largely undertaken in the period before the development of modern methods and techniques. The size of the assemblage also makes it important – animal bon...

[If you like what I write, please consider throwing something in the  Tip Jar  on the right of the page. Alternatively, using  The Reading Room  portal (top of page) for shopping with Amazon brings in some advertising revenue and costs you nothing] < Back to the contents page Jackie McDowell, the chairperson for this session, welcomed Dr. Eileen Reilly to the podium and introduced her as a post-Doctoral research fellow at UCD. Reilly initially studied archaeology, following up with a graduate degree in environmental studies, specialising in insects. Reilly explained that she’d be discussing issues surrounding dirt and hygiene at Drumclay and comparing the evidence with data from other sites, chiefly Fishamble Street in Dublin and Deer Park Farms, Co. Antrim. She stated that she would ‘discuss some of the more intimate aspects of people’s lives during the Early Medieval period, the conditions in which they lived and how they managed that living space.’ ...