Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 5

Day five ends the first week of excavations at Glendalough and saw the end to the geophysical survey. During the second week students will still get the opportunity to carryout the drawing survey but on a much wider scale as the graveyard survey gets under way.

The Geophysical survey has been taking place beside Trinity church just to the southwest of the car park. The students had spent the week carrying out two different types of geophysical surveying techniques. These were magnetometry and earth resistance survey. Before the students got a hands on experience of these techniques, some background information and description of the equipment was provided. During the few days students have had the opportunity to use both a standard resistivity frame for earth resistance survey and a 2-probe gradiometer for the magnetometry survey, both carried out along a 20m grid. As this was just a teaching exercise the readings from the magnetometry survey are not accurate as there was no avoidance of metal that would disturb the probe. Both of these techniques were carried out in the field that is now the location of both trench 11 and 12.

Trench 11 and 12 today had seen great progress throughout the day with the weather holding strong. In trench 11 a sondage running along the length of the northern section was put in place in order to better understand the ditch feature picked up in the Geophysics along with the rectangular enclosure. Plans of the eastern section of the trench where a wall was once thought to have been was undertaken as well. The plough furrows were excavated as well to investigate any possible archaeology held within.

Trench 12 had plans taken of the current present surface. Examination of the different soil colours revealed a possible few sections of plough furrows in rather strange shapes. Excavation of these plough furrows was then taken towards the end of the day to once again attempt to reveal any archaeology held within.

A fantastic end to week 1 of the Glendalough field school, with the weather holding strong and much progress being made through excavation we are one step closer to better understanding the Glendalough valley.  

                                                                                                                             By Emily Geoghegan

                                                                                                                                & Brandon Walsh

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 3

Day 3 saw the continuation of yesterday’s activities in Trenches 11 and 12. Mattocking was undertaken in both trenches along with shovelling. With both trenches in relatively close proximity to one another it is no wonder that we are finding relatively similar archaeological material from both sites.

Trench 11 painted an interesting picture for interpretation during the afternoon with a series strips of darker soil. running north-south. The pattern of light brown with dark brown soil has led to the identification of the striations as agricultural furrows. Finds from the trench include ceramics, glass, different shaped iron objects and clay pipes.

Field School 2014 in Glendalough

To the east of the trench an amalgamation of large stones has been uncovered. With no clear patterns to date it is unknown as to whether these may be natural or not. Trench 12 saw the same mattocking, cleaning back and shovelling as trench 11. A similar appearance of large stones has appeared to the eastern section of the trench. It is unlikely that these bear a resemblance to that of trench 11, however evidence for the heavy agricultural activity in the past at the site is good information as we further through excavations. Finds from trench 12 include ceramics, glass, clay pipes, iron objects as well as a medieval tile.

Day 3 began similarly on trench 10 with the remaining topsoil being removed and the stone feature being cleaned off. Excavations then stopped for the day as a pre-ex-plan was carried out now that more of the stones had been uncovered.

Visitors were more frequent today at the site which gave us a chance to interact with many tourists and a number of locals and it was interesting to hear some of Glendalough’s history from those that live there. At the end of day 3 we are starting to grasp the recent past of the site between the monastic complex and our lady’s church. With heavy agricultural activity being a prominent feature in both trenches we can then expect similar disruptions in the archaeology. Another successful day with many interesting features arising.

                                                                                                                            By Brandon Walsh

                                                                                                                                & Emily Geoghegan

Glendalough Fieldschool 2014: Part 2

We move onto day 2 of the excavations at Glendalough with the cleaning back of both trenches 11 and 12. The de-sodding and quick clean back left the second year archaeologists with a nice surface to begin working with. Both trenches were then troweled back, followed by mattocking taking place on the eastern and western corners of the trenches. The mattocking was undertaken in order to remove what remained of the topsoil and bring us onto a richer orange-brown soil.

Trench 11 gave way to a range of finds which all appear to be modern in date. Large glass bottle bases, broken glass shards of many colours, ceramics: thick and thin alike, clay pipes and even an iron horse stirrup were among the finds. Discussions with local visitors indicates that the field was used for growing potatoes in the recent past

Field School 2014 in Glendalough

Trench 12 presented similar finds to that of trench 11 with different types of ceramic, glass and clay pipes being found. In contrast to the previous trench however iron nails, a small black bead, two flint pieces and animal bone were uncovered.

Unlike trenches 11 and 12, trench 10 told a different story. The morning allowed for desodding of the trench with a clean back which revealed more stones associated with the three originally found. The stairway however which was originally thought of is seeming increasing unlikely, with more stones appearing along the Pattern Bank which does not fit the structure of a staircase. Examining the area around the trench has shown that many stones are protruding from underneath the grassy bank.. With the only find of the day being a single coin there is still much work to be done to influence our interpretation of the site. All in all day 2 has been widely successful for all parts of the excavation. 

                                                                                                                                    By Brandon Walsh

                                                                                                                                         Emily Geoghegan

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 1

UCD Fieldschool in Glendalough, August 2013

Since 2009, UCD School of Archaeology has conducted small scale excavations at Glendalough which, despite its iconic status has seen little recent archaeological research. The dig this year focuses around the anomalies found in a geophysical survey carried out in 2011 by Ian Elliot alongside the school.

Two trenches (Trench 11 & 12) have been opened in between the main monastic complex and Our Lady's church in order to investigate these anomalies. The earth resistance & magnetic survey paved the way for the opening to trench 11 which will examine a possible large ditch lined with stones. This potentially could be one of the main boundaries of the monastic complex. Near the western part of the trench there is evidence for a rectangular structure most likely medieval in date. This particular trench aims to answer questions about the early phases of the monastic city.

Geophysics identified a small curvilinear ditched feature which may represent an earlier enclosure. This may present to us a pre-monastic settlement at Glendalough. 

The opening of trench 10 was initiated by the identification of a stone feature along the Pattern Bank located between the monastic settlement and the river to the north. We hope for excavations to reveal part of an ancient enclosure of the monastic city or a structure earlier in date. 

Moving onto the happenings of our first day, the archaeology students entering 2nd year were brought on a brief tour of Glendalough which led them into lunch time. Meanwhile supervisors mapped out and constructed the fencing surrounding each trench. Desodding took place after lunch on trenches 11 and 12 which were then cleaned back directly afterwards. All in all our first day went fantastically, we got all the dirty work done and have made preparations to bring on (hopefully) an even more successful fortnight!

Excavation Newsletters:

Newsletter 1:  http://www.ucdblogs.org/glendalougharchaeologyproject/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/GVAP_Newsletter-1-Charcoal.pdf

Newsletter 2:  http://www.ucdblogs.org/glendalougharchaeologyproject/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/GVAP_Newsletter-2-Excavations.pdf

Geophysics:   http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/handle/10197/5781

  By Brandon Walsh
& Emily Geoghegan

Peace and quiet in Glendalough, August 2013