Our Day of Archaeology 2015
Last Friday was the Day of Archaeology…. Have you ever wondered what archaeologists really get up to? Is it all just digging or is there a lot more to it? The Day of Archaeology project aims to provide a window into the daily lives of archaeologists from all over the world. The project asks people […]
THEN DIG
We’ve reached the end of marking our tenth year in business. And on a high note as we’ve been nominated in 4 categories in the Grafton media Irish Blog Awards. Thanks to whoever nominated us – we’re in the long lists for Best Eco/Green Blog, Best Arts/Culture Blog, Best Blog Of An SME and Best Science/Education Blog. So, […]
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
Continuing our series of old posts (to mark our 10th year in business), ones we feel were good, prescient or elicited some good conversation or debate, this post was first published in January 2009. Posted in response to a controversy about how we treat and curate our dead, initiated by then IT journalist Sarah Carey, […]
THE OXFORD COMPANION TO BEER
The beer swilling blogeratti are in the throes of some rather vigorous debates online about the recently published ‘Oxford Companion to Beer’ with two distinct points of view emerging about beer writing in general, and particularly the approach to the history of beer (see here for Nazi’s, here for Pete Brown’s view, here for a […]
EARLY IRISH ALE 2
Continuing our series of old posts (to mark our 10th year in business), ones we feel were good, prescient or elicited some good conversation or debate, this post was first published in February 2008. Continuing our research on ancient beer, Declan spent a long evening reading and searching the Annals of the Four Masters for […]
THE FULACHT BEER EXPERIMENT – ARCHAEOLOGY OF BEER
Declan, Billy and Nigel presented at a Seminar on ‘Experimental Archaeology in Northwest Europe: Principles and Potential’ in UCD last week. Our presentation was on the beer experiments and Fulacht Fiadh. Here’s some of Declan’s section of the presentation: Fulachta fiadh are one of the most widespread of Irish field monuments and may number up […]
OUR ‘DAY OF ARCHAEOLOGY’
The Day of Archaeology 2011 aimed to give a window into the daily lives of archaeologists and happened on July 29th. With over 400 contributors, it chronicled what they did on one day, from those in the field through to specialists working in laboratories and behind computers. This was our contribution. To see all the contributions see http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/ […]
IRELAND’S GREAT DRUG EPIDEMIC
‘Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart’ Proverbs (27:9) This post was first published in December 2007. we were getting into our stride with the blog and were regularly and busily posting. Of course, that was before twitter and we weren’t as distracted. I’ve edited out a little bit of the snark. There are still ether users […]
IRELAND AND THE ‘VAGARIES OF WAR’
This piece was originally published at the Archaeology Group Blog: Then Dig last month… There’s a somewhat long tirade by way of an introduction to this post on distance, perceptions from afar, and the current state of Ireland so, indulge, or bear with, me while I set the scene! Writing in the Irish Times just […]
EXCAVATIONS 2010
From today we’ll be adding the submissions we’ve made to the excavations website to the blog. From their website: The database contains summary accounts of all the excavations carried out in Ireland – North and South – from 1970 to 2007. It has been compiled from the published Excavations Bulletins from those years, with a […]
WHAT THE FRACK?
There’s been mention recently in the Irish and International media of the controversial process of gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ as it’s come to be known. Two companies have been issued onshore petroleum licences in the area of Lough Allen (Tamboran Resources and Langco). Put simply the fracking process involves pumping a mixture […]
IRISH HOSPITALITY
For those of you who have always wondered what Ireland was like for the early Christian inhabitants of the place, and let’s face it, we all have at some stage, here’s a slightly distilled version of P.W. Joyce’s excellent introduction to his (1905) “A Smaller Social History of Ireland” available in full on the interweb here. […]
MOORE GROUP’S RESOURCE CENTRE
Our Resource Centre aims to be an open-source comprehensive tool and source of relevant information to anyone undertaking a range of activities or projects on the Island or off the shore of Ireland. The Centre will address the areas of planning, cultural heritage, coastal and marine issues, the natural environment and biodiversity and related issues. Stage 1 […]
HABITAT MAPPING GUIDELINES (HC)
From the Heritage Council: ‘The final version of the Heritage Council’s Best Practice Guidance for Habitat Survey and Mapping is now available on our website at www.heritagecouncil.ie This publication presents current best practice guidance for survey and mapping of habitats in the Republic of Ireland, and is aimed primarily at those who conduct or commission habitat surveys. Its […]
WOLVES IN IRELAND
And on an unrelated note, this just in from the ESAI – The Fourteenth Meeting of the Irish Environmental History Network will feature a talk by Dr. Kieran Hickey of the Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Galway. The is entitled “Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History”, and a short abstract may be found […]
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROFESSION IN IRELAND
A workshop on the future of the archaeological profession in Ireland was held in Kilkenny on 8th March, 2011. The aim was to discuss the crisis facing the profession and come up with solutions. The current best estimate by the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (IAI) of numbers working in the profession is 350 from […]
BIOBLITZ
This just in from http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/ ‘BioBlitz is a scientific race against time. The aim of this fun event is to find as many species as possible within a park over a 24 hour period. During last year’s event, the champions, Connemara National Park recorded a massive 542 species over a 24 hour period. Again this […]
Public Procurement Shits n’ Giggles
Recently I was asked by a local journalist would I be interested in her doing a ‘day in the life of an archaeologist’ feature. I replied to her saying that, although it would be good marketing, my job these days would make very dull reading… Although we have some projects monitoring water, sewage schemes etc.. […]
SMR / RMP / RHM ….. WTF!!!
The legislation The principal components contained within each act/amendment are listed below. The National Monuments Act 1930 Protects National Monuments Makes it a legal requirement that people report the discovery of archaeological objects Restricts export and prohibits injury to archaeological objects The National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1954 Makes it possible for the Commissioners to undertake […]
The Blue Dragon.. He look angry
From NASA’s Earth Observatory website here’s a zoomed-in pic of a recent phytoplankton bloom off the west coast. ‘Late May 2010 brought peacock-hued swirls of blue and green to the North Atlantic. The iridescent waters formed a giant arc hundreds of kilometers across, extending from west of Ireland to the Bay of Biscay. The Moderate […]
Ireland as a National Monument
Here’s the Republic of Ireland mapped in National Monuments. The term “national monument” as defined in Section 2 of the National Monuments Act (1930) means a monument “the preservation of which is a matter of national importance by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching thereto” (link). On the suggestion by […]
Chevy Chase, Ireland
We’ve been tweeting unusual townland names as we encounter them around Ireland in the course of assessing projects, and for today we present the unusually named Chevy Chase, Co. Offaly, located to the northeast of Portalington. Here’s the historic map with Chevy Chase House depicted in the top left…
Bronze Age Halberd
Occasionally we’ve been adding to our ‘virtual museum’, with brief descriptions of the artefacts we’ve recovered over the years. Generally we’ll only post up the very special finds! One of Billy’s most notable stray finds from last year was retrieved during the course of archaeological testing near the River Corrib. The find was un-associated with […]
Irelands environmental scorecard
Overall, the OECD’s recent report on Ireland’s environmental performance, part of their Economic Survey of Ireland 2009 which was published yesterday (available online as a pdf here), presents a reasonably positive review of the achievements here over the past few years. Indeed the report highlights the fact that ‘Ireland generally has good air and water […]
