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Strangford Lough in County Down has been officially designated an Area of Outstanding Beauty. For thousands of years, however, its appeal was much more practical. Its vast natural harbour provided refuge for generations of seafarers seeking shelter from the notoriously dangerous Irish Sea and the fertility of its land and the richness of its wildlife proved a strong attraction for human settlement. The high quality of archaeology around the Logh has been recognized for many years. From 1995 to 2000 Northern Ireland's Environment and Heritage Service, conscious that the shore and seabed of the lough were hiding many more secrets, undertook a survey of the maritime cultural landscape. The results of the survey, published here, challenge our preconceptions about the knowledge and skills of our ancestors -excavations at Nendrum, for instance, revealed a seventh-century tidal corn-mill that demonstrated a previously unknown level of engineering sophistication. This illustrated volume seeks to present the survey results in a readily accessible form, adding to our appreciation of Strangford's past but also broadening the way we look at Ireland's history as a maritime region. ... Read more

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The kingdom of Dal Riata emerged in Argyll in the early centuries AD, after the Romans had abadoned Scotland. Unlike the Picts to the north and the British Celtic tribes to the south, the rulers of Argyll were Gaelic speakers who had crossed the sea from Ireland. This book describes the results of new excavations at Dunadd, the rocky hill on which these early Scots built a citadel. The authors a;sp review previous research at the site, and discuss what we know of Dalriadic society and culture. From the Iron Age onwards, Dunadd was one of the most important regional centres, and the extensive early medieval remains have been interpreted in the past as the site where the first kings of Scotland were crowned. The elegant metal artefacts, metallurgical workshop and elaborate masonry uncovered in these new excavations support this claim and also shed new light on the development of insular art. While this volume is at heart a detailed excavation report, the wider contextual discussions (which are a hallmark of the Cardiff Studies in Archaeology series) will be of interest to anybody interested in the early, unwritten history of Scotland. ... Read more

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In late 2000, during one of the wettest winters on record, Oxford Wessex Archaeology were commissioned by the construction consortium CAMBBA, on behalf of Midland Expressway Limited, to carry out the archaeological works associated with the construction of the new 44km M6 Toll motorway. The main phase of work was carried out during 2001, and by 2003 all investigations were complete, revealing 41 separate sites. Remains includied Mesolithic flint scatters, isolated Neolithic pits and hollows, Bronze Age burnt mounds and Iron Age settlement enclosures. The Romano-British period was dominated by settlement and burials concentrated around Wall (Letocetum), Ryknield Street and Watling Street, whilst the Anglo-Saxons were notable by their absence from the results. Evidence for medieval settlement and agriculture was recorded at many sites, and in particular a Knights Templar fishpond complex at Wishaw. More recent standing structures were also recorded, including the northern dam for Hatherton Reservoir, Churchbridge Railway and Accommodation bridges and sections through the Cannock Extension and Wyrley and Essington Canals, vital elements of the post-medieval industrial heritage of the region. ... Read more

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Archaeological excavations in advance of the construction of the new A43 dual carriageway between Towcester and the M40, in both Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, were carried out by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 2000 and 2001 in accordance with Highways Agency requirements. Excavations were undertaken on five settlement sites four dating to the Iron Age/early Roman period, and one to the Roman period. Three of the Iron Age sites, each of a different form, lay within 500m of each other south of Towcester. There were also investigations on a smaller scale on sites principally of the Iron Age and Roman periods, including a pit lignment. The opportunity has also been taken to present the results of a magnetometer survey at Tusmore Deserted Medieval Village, which included part of a Roman settlement. This report also summarises the more disparate evidence for medieval land-use. The investigations are particularly significant in view of the limited previous archaeological work in this area, much ofwhich lies on Boulder Clay geology. The finds comprise moderately large collections of pottery (c 8000 sherds) and animal bone (77 kg) and small collections of metal and other finds. Of particular importance was the discovery of Iron Age iron smelting at Biddlesden Road Bridge and early Roman iron melting at Syresham. Detailed analysis indicates that both slag tapping and non-slag tapping technologies were used in the Iron Age. Early Roman pottery kilns were found at Syresham and Whitfield, adding to the picture of a widespread but small-scale industry at this time. A report on a group of infant burials from Silverstone Fields Farm is presented in detail.The evidence is discussed and set in its regional context. A comparison of the artefactual and economic evidence from the Iron Age sites suggests that there were slight differences in the assemblages which could indicate different economic practices and perhaps social roles for these settlements. ... Read more

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The past few years have seen an upsurge in the numbers of known Neolithic settlements in Ireland. Many of these sites have been excavated by archaeologists based in field units, but few are well-known to the wider archaeological community. This papers in this volume were presented at a conference held at Queen's University, Belfast in 2001, which provided a forum for a discussion of the new Neolithic material from Ireland in its wider geographical context. Although the bulk of the emerging Irish settlement evidence relates to substantial houses, many of these papers consider wider themes, including issues of contact and communication along the sea routes and coastal margins of north-west Europe, questions of diversity and regional patterns of sedentism and mobility, and variations in regional food production strategies. ... Read more

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This book represents an innovative experiment in presenting the results of a large-scale, multidisciplinary archaeological project. The well-known authors and their team examined the Neolithic and Bronze Age landscapes on Bodmin Moor of Southwest England, especially the site of Leskernick. The result is a multivocal, multidisciplinary telling of the stories of Bodmin Moor—both ancient and modern—using a large number of literary genres and academic disciplines. Dialogue, storytelling, poetry, photo essays and museum exhibits all appear in the volume, along with contributions from archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, geologists, and ecologists. The result is a major synthesis of the Bronze Age settlements and ritual sites of the Moor, contextualized within the Bronze Ages of southwestern and central Britain, and a tracing of the changing meaning of this landscape over the past five thousand years. Of obvious interest to those in British prehistory, this is a substantial presentation of a groundbreaking project that will also be of interest to many concerned with the interpretation of social landscapes and the public presentation of archaeology. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Good but read with caution
This is beautiful book that offers a great deal of information about pre-Celtic Ireland through artifacts discovered and the impressive sites from this period that are still standing and through the archeological record the author gives us some insight as to whatthis culture (or cultures) looked like. However I do take issuewith some of the information presented in this book. There is much debate as to the periods of Celtic invasion and more and more the research in both linguistics and archeology continue to push the dates of Celtic occupation further and further back. The Celts and peoples that existed before pre-Celtic times traded with Irelandalong the mid Atlantic trade routes for millennia and the Celtic invasions themselves are believed to have occurred along both the mid-Atlantic route and across the English channel.
Please keep this in mind as you read this book.
That being said the this book is still a great resource especially if used in conjunction with current credible sources on the topic of the Celtic invasions. ... Read more

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Precious little of Roman London survives and the destruction of Roman levels continues fast as new office foundations are sunk ever deeper into ancient levels. In recent years the close attention of the archaeologists of the Museum of London, encouraged by the co-operation of city developers, has allowed the recording of much that is being lost. From 1986 to 1988 work was started on 142 archaeological sites in the City, and many others were dug in the neighbouring boroughs. Every year new information and material is added to the stores of the Museum of London. Far too much new data is coming in for it all to be studied properly, with much being stored against the day that time and money can be found to permit more leisurely analysis. The first purpose of this book is to bring together as much as possible of this new information. It is also written with certain specific problems in mind. Much of the fascination of Roman London derives from its history of extremes - it burst into life with extraordinary vigour and quickly became one of the largest cities in the Roman west but boom seems rapidly to have turned to bust. How could a city grow so fast, change so much and fall so far?These are the questions that this work attempts to address. ... Read more

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" In Northern Ireland, Halloween is such a major celebration that it is often called the Irish Christmas. A day of family reunions, meals, and fun, Halloween brings people of all ages together with rhyming, storytelling, family fireworks, and community bonfires. Perhaps most important, it has become a day that transcends the social conflict found in this often troubled nation. Through the extensive use of interviews, The Hallowed Eve offers a fascinating look at the various customs, both past and present, that mark the celebration of the holiday. Looking through the lenses of gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation, Jack Santino examines how the traditions exist in a nonthreatening, celebratory way to provide a model of how life could be in Northern Ireland. Halloween, concludes Santino, is a marriage of death and life, a joining of cultural opposites: indoor and outdoor, domesticity and wildness, male and female, old and young. Although current folk and popular traditions can be divisive, Halloween in Northern Ireland is universally considered to belong to everyone, regardless of their background or political leanings. The holiday is a dramatic example of how a community comes together one day a year, and these Northern Irish traditions capture the fundamental and everyday dimensions of life in Ulster.

Customer Reviews (1)

Modern Slant on Age-old Customs
There are many books on Halloween (including another by Jack Santino), but this book is unique in presenting a look at how very old customs have persisted amid the social turmoil and political unrest of Northern Ireland. Since Santino is an American folklorist, one would expect an outsider'sview of Halloween. Instead, having lived in Northern Ireland for anextended period and formed working relationships with folklorists there,Santino offers a view of a cultural phenomenon that is both sympathetic andobjective. His insights are worth considering. Perhaps the only drawback tothis volume is its lack of historical perspective or comparison with otherCeltic cultures. Despite this, the present volume is a welcome addition tothe library of anyone interested in Halloween itself or Celtic culturalremains. ... Read more

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This work examines the development of antiquarian and archaeological thought and practice in Cork, Ireland, from the early 1800s. Contents: 1) General background; 2) A close-up of Cork; 3) Education and societies; 4) Collectors, artefacts and lithographs; 5) Moves towards organized structures; 6) Issues and debates (Round towers; Ogham stones; Fulachta fiadh; Geological time and human antiquity; the concept of evolution; Giant Irish deer; The Three Age system); 7) Fieldwork and excavation; 8) Summary and conclusions; Appendix 1 Biographical details of some eminent antiquarians and scientists of the period; Appendix 2 Antiquarian and archaeological societies in Cork up to 1870. ... Read more

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A large collection of papers which originated in a conference on Boetia which was held in Bradford in 1989. Since then most of the papers have been updated where required and they testify to the quality and volume of new work being undertaken in this area of Greece. Twenty-five papers in all, including 4 on prehistory by John M. Fossey, Saul Levin, Jost Knauss and Harriet Allen; 3 on the post-Mycenean dark ages by Alina Veneri, Paola Angeli Bernadini and Angheliki K. Andreiomenou; 4 on the archaic period by H. van Effenterre, John M. Fossey, Ettore Cingano, Jan Stubbe Ostergaard; 6 on the classical-hellenisctic period by A. M. Snodgrass, Giuseppe Zecchini, Luisa Breglia Pulcia Doria, L. Prandi, Marta Sordi, John Bintliff and Gilbert Argoud; 3 on the late hellenistic and Roman period by Cinzia Bearzot, Albert Schachter and S. E. Alcock; 4 papers on the medieval and early modern period by Peter Lock, Machiel Kiel, Duane W. Roller and Apostolos Papadopoulos. ... Read more

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Much new material has been brought to light by the greatly increased archaeological activity of the past decade, (1970-80) some of which makes possible new or revised interpretations, especially in the context of comparable contemporary work. To review and assess this material La Soci‚t‚ Guernesiaise organised an International Symposium in 1980 at which some 15 papers were read by well-known archaeologists. This important book arises from that symposium, with most of the papers re-written to be more suitable for publication, and brought up to date. Contains 86 illustrations. ... Read more

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From the sixteenth century, classical texts enabled Scottish and English authors and artists to imagine the character and appearance of their forebears and to consider the relevance of these ideas to their contemporaries. Richard Hingley's study crosses traditional academic boundaries by exploring sources usually separately addressed by historians, classicists, archaeologists, and geographers, to provide a new perspective on the origin of English and Scottish identity. His book is the first full exploration of these issues to cover such a long period in the development of British society and to relate ideas derived from Roman sources to the development of empire, while also placing ideas of origin in a European context. It is illustrated throughout with artefact drawings, site plans, and photographs. ... Read more

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This volume offers an overview of classical archaeology, ranging from the Bronze Age to the Classical period, and considers the relevance of theory to Classical archaeology. It looks a variety of topics such as mortuary practice, the concept of `time' and the `past', gender, ideology, social structure, scientific methodologies, funerary architecture and Classical art. ... Read more