Considering their prominence in the archaeological record and the quantity of sites that have been excavated, it is surprising there has never been a book-length synthesis of Iron Age round-houses published before now. Rising admirably to the challenge, Harding has been Abercromby Professor of Prehistory at Edinburgh for the last thirty years, and here he presents a personal selection of sites drawn from this extensive experience. Read more
There was once a time when archaeologists could rebut all criticism of their professional judgement with the simple retort: ‘the spade never lies.’ Whilst history is written by winners, archaeological excavation reveals the past as it was, unsullied by the duplicitous meaning of words. At least that was the holding line, until Philip Greigson pointed out that even if ‘the spade cannot lie, it owes this merit in part to the fact that it cannot speak.’
Nominated for a heritage award and scooped second place for my lecture - Recently reported road deaths on the N6: 3500 BC to 1500 AD - a synthesis of work undertaken on various cemetery sites as part of the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme. Chris Yates of the Southwest Maritime Archaeology Group took the top honours, speaking on 'Bronze Age Trade in Copper – Evidence from a Maritime Environment', and Chantel Summerfield won the under thirties category with 'The archaeology of soldier’s identity in the twentieth century, uncovered through a comparison of arborglyphs'.
Over the last 10 years Ireland has been abuzz with archaeological activity – a positive (and now sadly missed) benefit of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ construction boom. Dining and Dwelling is the sixth monograph to be published in this series by the National Roads Authority (NRA), and it must be also be a world first in that it firmly establishes a developer, albeit a semi-state body, as the foremost publisher of a nation’s archaeological work. Read more
