Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

Although I don’t celebrate Christmas*, I’m not unaware that it’s on its way … with that in mind, I recently put out the call on social media to my archaeologist and related friends (“Heritage+” if you will) asking what they’d like or are currently promoting. So, here, in no particular order, are the best of the suggestions from the ArchaeoHiveMind, coupled with a smattering of my own selections … Let’s be honest – archaeologists love books … we read books, we write books, we buy books … so let’s have some books! Where better to start than with Marion Dowd’s award winning The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland [ Amazon | Oxbow ]? It won the Current Archaeology’s prestigious ‘Archaeology Book of the Year’ in 2016. If you don’t already have it … why not? … now’s the time to add it to your collection! While you’re at it, look for Marion’s new book Archaeological Excavations in Moneen Cave, the Burren, Co. Clare: Insights into Bronze Age and Post-Medieval Life in the West of Ire...

I’m going to keep this short! The nominations for the Current Archaeology Awards [ Facebook | Web ] have just been announced and there are two entries from the island of Ireland there and I would be very grateful if you would consider voting for them. Rescue Dig of the Year 2016 The Drumclay crannog-dwellers: revealing 1,000 years of lakeside living (Nora Bermingham and Caitriona Moore) Book of the Year 2016 The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland (Marion Dowd) Please go to the voting page [ here ] and do your bit! That’s it! That’s all! Thank you for helping! +           +           + The longer bit: Every one of the nominees deserves their place on the list, but I think these two are particularly special and deserve all-Ireland archaeological support. The nomination for Drumclay reads: “The rare excavation of a medieval artificial island,...

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button in the column on 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 on the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue**] If you hang about this blog for long enough you could easily come away with the impression that I’m engaged in something of a bromance with Wordwell Books . I do seem to review and promote an awful lot of their wares [ here | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | here ] ... OK that is a lot! The simple reason for this is that they are the major publisher of archaeological books in Ireland. They – or, more accurately, their books – have been constant companions since I first started studying archaeology and encountered the first few issues of Archaeology Ireland magazine in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop...

[** 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**] Today (22 nd August 2013) is a very special day for me! It’s my blog’s second birthday! The stats are pretty impressive: 65 published posts 106 blog followers +81,500 page views OK … it’s not the Huffington Post , but it’s not bad! I had intended to write something for the first birthday of the blog, but with all the commotion going on about the Drumclay Crannog , there just didn’t seem to be the time. This year I wanted to reflect on where the blog came from, what it’s managed to achieve, and where it may be going. At Nendrum, Co. Down August 2011 was a pretty dark time for me. In terms of my c...