Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] The recent storms that hit the Irish coastline have exposed a number of archaeological sites, including a possible Neolithic settlement at Omey Island , Co. Galway, an  ancient forest uncovered at Ballinesker Beach , Co. Wexford, finds of stone axes from Connemara , Co. Galway,  and the wreck of a 19th century ship at Rossbeigh beach , Co. Kerry. The opposite side of this unexpected boon has been destruction at the promontory fort at Dunbeg, Co. Kerry, when a portion of its cliff unexpectedly fell into the sea. A report in The Irish Times , quoting a spokesperson for the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht , ...

[**  If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue  **] In the main post ( here ) I described the Promontory Fort at Dunbeg, Co. Kerry, and the damage that has befallen it as a result of the recent storms (2013/2014), along with publishing some photographs of the site taken in 1982, by the late William Dunlop [ Facebook | Website ]. I would also recommend that you take a look at Colm Moriarty’s excellent recent photos on his irisharchaeology.ie blog: here . View from inside clochán, through doorway, to entrance through stone rampart Here, I want to examine the chronology of the site and the evidence from the radiocarbon dating. One thing that is clear from B...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the end. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the end of the post - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue**] Earlier this summer I took time off work to help out with childcare and to spend some time with my two sons, while their regular child-minder took a much needed and deserved holiday. It turns out that my wife and I had … let’s call them ‘divergent’ … ideas as to what constitutes a ‘fun day out’ for the children. She does things like making aliens out of cardboard boxes and tissues, providing home-made playdough (called ‘squashy’ in our house), and building temporary housing for our garden snails (a snail aquarium, or ‘snailarium’, if you will). I, however, appear to have a different idea of ‘fun’. My tendency is to stick the...

[** If you think the post is useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] Preface: This is a slightly longer version of an article submitted to the Ulster Archaeology Society 's Newsletter, edited by Duncan Berryman ( @ArchaeologistD ). The on-line version is available to read: here . If you have an interest in the archaeology of Ulster, please consider joining the Society - it is a wonderful resource that deserves our support!  It doesn’t take me to tell the readers of this Newsletter that Billy Dunlop was for many years the energetic heart of the UAS. His long-term editorship of this Newsletter, while impressive, was but one of his achievements. He was involved in just about every aspect of UAS life, from committee work, to attending lectures and field-trips to, in 2000, holding the position of President of the Society. With his passing in September of last year, I lost a valued friend and a trusted mentor (read my tribute to Billy...

On the 15 th of September 2011 Billy Dunlop died. With his passing I, and many of the readers of this blog, lost a good friend, mentor, and stalwart of the Northern Irish archaeological scene. I have already recounted some details of his life and my memories of him and do not propose to do the same again. My reason in writing this piece is to place on record some events that have occurred since his death, which I think Billy would have heartily approved of. Shortly after his passing, I got talking to his daughter, Maggie, who asked if I would be interested in taking some books from her father’s library. As a committed bibliophile, I jumped at the offer, even though Billy had already been incredibly generous in his gifts of books to me. After further discussions with his family, his good friend Ken and I agreed to assist in the dispersal of the remainder of his personal library to various charity shops. Ken took a number of car-loads to the National Trust book shop at Cast...