Glendalough Field School 2014: Post Excavation

The final week of the Glendalough Field School 2014 saw the beginning of the post-excavation process. This edition will include the entire post-excavation week with all the practices which had been carried out.

The first day of post-excavation began with the writing up of the registers for all trenches. Finds, camera, drawing and sample registers were all typed up using Microsoft Excel. This left us with a clean digital format of our current registers which can be stored with little chance of being damaged. The digital registers would also allow for a proper checking of artefacts later in the post-excavation process.

With the help of the students the finds were carefully cleaned to reveal a better surface for storage and allow for further interpretation at a later date. From white ceramics to clay pipes all were delicately washed using a toothbrush and a basin of water. Once washed the bags of each set of finds were checked for accuracy. They were also sorted into material type and all finds per trench were eventually placed into their own bag. At the end of this process we had three large bags full of smaller categorized bags from each trench. 

This was far from the end of the post-excavation process however, with the weather conditions being as poor as they were during the second week it left the trench boxes wet and muddy. All of the trench boxes were cleaned through and dried when necessary. It was also double checked that the trench boxes contained all the necessary equipment for next years excavations. This process of cleaning and checking was also undertaken for each of the drawing boxes. 

Among the larger tasks in post-excavation there were many smaller tasks which needed doing. Cleaning of hard hats as well as scanning of drawings were all carried out throughout the week. While some students had come back on the Wednesday in order to help backfill trench 12 there were still students working in UCD in order to get everything finished to make the rest of the post-excavation process without the students as easy as possible. 

Being able to partake in the post-excavation process one becomes quite aware of all the background work which surrounds an excavation such as that at Glendalough. The immense quantity of work which came both before and after the excavation was quite overwhelming which allows us to now truly appreciate the people behind the excavations from start to finish.

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 10

The final day of the field school at Glendalough saw quite a hectic start with many things needing to be done relatively quickly. With the main focus of the day being backfilling the students would have to wait until the afternoon to begin. All necessary plans were drawn with most of the students backfilling trench 10 which led into lunch.

Final Results:

Trench 10:
Throughout the excavations this trench has provided many questions and interpretations. The original interpretation of the protruding stones as once being a staircase which led to a tea house on the top of the bank has been changed numerous times throughout the two weeks. The result of our excavations suggests that the original stones may not have been related to the tea house. For the optimist, it has been thought that these may have once been a staircase leading to the monastery. Our interpretations are based off of a lack of pattern in the stones which would suggest a possible staircase. It also appears that the bank may have had its slope altered since the period in which the tea house once stood. Our excavating has not shown to be unsuccessful however, as we learned an immense amount of information about the geological history of Glendalough. Finds from the trench have also given us an idea of the activities which had taken place throughout the centuries near the pattern bank. All of which will be examined further in post excavation.

Trench 11:
Trench 11 throughout the excavation has given us a constant source of archaeology. From possible Neolithic material to the most modern rubbish, the number of artefacts which came from trench 11 was quite substantial. With many questions left to be answered it's likely that the excavations will continue on next year to further our already developing understanding of the trench. It appears we located the ditch which appeared in the geophysical survey from 2011. Numerous postholes and stakeholes were located throughout the western and eastern sections of the trench, one of which was nicely held in place by surrounding stones. In the second week a sondage was placed running east-west along the northern side of the trench. It had been placed strategically in order to pick up the possible structural feature as well as the ditch. While this year we were unable to completely unearth the structure we have reached a possible feature which can answer more of our questions in the years to come. 

Trench 12:
Trench 12 has definitely been one of the more interesting trenches solely due to the vast amount of questions and answers we have received. With the excavations over the students had been presented with a range of possible features throughout the entire trench. Some broken patterned soil indicates agricultural furrows, while others have led to the discovery of the possible ditch feature picked up by the geophysics.

Finds:
Two weeks of finds has indicated a range of activity ranging from possible Neolithic to the medieval period. Modern finds uncovered include modern ceramics, clay pipes and modern glass shards. Medieval artefacts ranged from pottery to floor tiles with a small amount of flint artefacts possibly from the Neolithic period. All finds are to be sent back to ucd for further analysis. From further studying of these objects we can learn more about many different aspects of this area in the glendalough landscape.

Backfilling:
Our archaeological adventures as Glendalough ended with a large amounts of backfilling and fun. With all the students acting as a team trenches 10 and 11 were fully filled in with trench 12 left for a later date. Through rain and sun all members of the team, both student and supervisor took part in the backfilling process with some... Messy results! All in all the excavations ended with a bang, leaving much more to learn in next years field school.

By Emily Geoghegan

Brandon Walsh

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 9

The second last day of the Field School was the last day for excavations. All equipment were taken to their respective trenches and work began immediately.

Trench 10 provided the students with a day of quick excavation, cleaning back and a demonstration of photography. Further investigation of the sondage on either sides of trench was carried out. With this being the final day of excavation, a large amount of work was done to try and reveal as much information as possible before all were forced to stop digging. A series of cleaning back allowed for the drawing of the final features. Towards the end of the day backfilling had started for trench 10. With three trenches to backfill, there would be a large rush to get things finished.

Trench 11 was cleaned back and prepared for post-ex photographs at the western end of the trench before the post-holes and stake-holes could be profiled. The eastern end underwent a similar process as larger post-holes were uncovered. Plans were taken of sections throughout the trench in order to give us a better understanding in post excavation of the final stages and development of the trench as time progressed. Similar to days previous, students were taken once again to learn how to fill out a context sheet.

By the morning Trench 12 appeared almost finished, with little information appearing anymore from the surface. The surface inside the trench contains numerous broken plough furrow soils, with some natural appearing running along with them. A section of a furrow has been taken to see how deep it ran. The results were quite fulfilling with a nice dipped feature, with very few changes to the shape throughout. The end of the day had some final plans drawn up for trench 12.

While the entire day was fast paced from start to finish, the main focus was getting plans constructed for all trenches. Final excavations allowed for better drawing and hence a better interpretation of features. 

By Emily Geoghegan

Brandon Walsh

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 8

With unpleasant weather forecast for the afternoon the morning rush kicked in a lot sooner than normal. Throughout all trenches it was a race against time to get as much done as possible. Like normal all equipment was carried towards their respective trenches and work went underway. 

The students throughout the week have been undertaking many archaeological techniques. Today they we're taking part in a digital survey, graveyard survey (see part 6) and a palaeoenvironmental survey. Below are a list of sources for further study in Digital Surveying techniques.

Trench 12:
Excavating in trench 12 began with further excavation of the possible plough furrows. On the western section of the trench the possible ditch as picked up by the geophysics is being investigated. Bulk samples of the feature appearing on the eastern section of the trench were taken earlier in the morning. Photography was also carried out throughout the day with extensive recording of all possible features.

Trench 11:
As the final week of excavations come to a close Trench 11 continues to expose various features and produce vast amounts of small finds and samples. Burnt animal bone and charcoal continued to be the main samples taken from the eastern end of the trench as features that could potentially be post-holes. Work continued in the search for the western stone lined wall of the ditch which has been potentially located but appears to lie interfere with another feature, however it is not possible to continue research on this feature in the last stages of the excavation. The western end of this trench was cleaned back once again for a mid-ex photograph to show the post-hole and stake-hole, this led to the appearance of another two stake-holes that were then excavated and recorded.

Trench 10:
Trench 10 today began with a further investigation of the stone structure which dominates the centre of the trench. The stones were brushed off carefully to avoid any fake patterning in the soil. The eastern and western sections of the trench have been thoroughly excavated in order to identify any possible archaeology as well as to reach the natural soil underneath. While this trench is still plagued with mystery we are rapidly coming to a greater understanding as to any possible archaeology there.

Debates have been taking place as to whether our trench has to do with the tea house. Towards the bottom of the trench there is a large amount of what appears to be dark, natural soil. A lack of change in the soil colour between the 'stairs' and area around it make for a quick interpretation that the stairs and tea house are found elsewhere. The large stones however create confusion as they appear to be dislodged and disturbed. Hopefully the few remaining days will reveal the last pieces of information needed to better understand the trench.

                                                          By Emily Geoghegan

Brandon Walsh

Below are a list of sources which aid in the study of GIS.

http://www.gisresources.com/total-station-and-its-applications-in-surveying/

Lake, M. & Conolly, J. (2006) Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology. London:Cambridge University Press.

Chapman, H. (2009) Landscape Archaeology and GIS. Stroud : The History Press.

Wheatley, D. & Gillings, M. (2002) Spatial technology and archaeology: the archaeological applications of GIS. London : Taylor & Francis

                               

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 7

The second week has provided students and supervisors alike with a lot of excitement, which has been gradually increasing as we continue day by day. With this we had hopes to kick of Day 7 with a hefty amount of work in order to catch up from the rather disastrous day previous. We begin our daily report in trench 10!

Trench 10:
After a rather disastrous afternoon yesterday we began day 7 with high hopes for a dryer day of archaeology. Trench 10 throughout the day saw a nice amount of activity with the appearance of medieval pottery and flint. With the aims for the day being the identification of the natural these finds were a pleasant surprise. Excavations around the stones also went underway in an attempt to better reveal the possible feature a little bit more. A quick study of a new photo depicting the tea house shows the bank below to be less steep than what is currently present. This could indicate a possible steepening of the bank after the destruction of the tea house.

Trench 12:
With the general theme of this trench being confusion, it was not quite clear what had to be done in order to further understand what was going on. Possible linear agricultural features which run approximately north-west to south-east were excavated further which revealed the natural soil underneath. While it is unclear as to what these features are the dipped shape of the soil in cross section suggests possible plough furrows.

Trench 11:

The collection of large stones towards the eastern end of Trench 11 were removed today and led to the discovery of two post-holes and a potential pit. During the removal of the soil large pieces of burnt animal bone and charcoal were recovered. Just adjacent to the two post holes, it appears that the ditch highlighted in the geophysical survey has been discovered.  The western edge of the trench was cleaned back after yesterday’s rain and highlighted four possible features. Each feature was half sectioned and it appears that two of the four features are post-holes. In the afternoon trench 11 was visited by …… ? (We're unsure of the name of the company filming today and were hoping you'd be able to give us information on that - Thanks!)

In Focus: Palaeoenvironmental Survey

The Palaeoenvironmental survey takes place throughout the second week with students learning the fundamentals of auguring (coring) and how to assess samples. They began the morning by carrying all supplies to a suitable spot in a boggy area near the lower lake. The environmental survey was carried out to better understand the entire history of the Glendalough valley. With the two lakes having been joined at one period in time it is possible to see this through the changes in soil colour at different depths.

Three types of cores were used:
 - Small bore
 - Large bore
 - Russian corer

In the morning the small and large bore corers were used to demonstrate the different equipment used. However due to the open design it is not possible to take accurate samples from these pieces of equipment. For sampling the Russian corer was used. The design of the auger allows for easy sampling at all depths. Missile in shape, it consists of a body and 'fin' which when rotated in a clockwise or anti-clockwise opens and closes the chamber. Sampling revealed a loss in colour when in deeper depths of soil. The bed of an ice age lake is depicted by a metallic looking grey/silver soil while the upper levels show a dark brown soil with decayed wood or reeds.

The samples of the auguring survey were placed in a drain pipe and covered with cling film. They were labelled and given the top and bottom depth as well as the site code. They can then go back for analysis in the lab.

                                   By Emily Geoghegan

Brandon Walsh

Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 6

It’s the start of a new week and the start of some new surveying opportunities for the students. Using the discovery programme’s previous survey carried out to record the gravestones in the cemetery UCD has gone back over the research to examine the gravestones that were missed. The students began the survey today and will continue until the end of the week. The aim is to record the gravestones missed in a small section of the cemetery.  Despite the rain pouring down and making the drawing extremely difficult the students really enjoyed getting a chance to carry out this survey and found to be a great way to learn this technique of recording.

Sadly the day did not provide a decent opportunity for the students to excavate through any of the trenches for an extended period of time. While planning was undertaken in trench 10, cleaning back and a deeper excavation of the sondage was carried out in trench 11. Trench 12 saw a cleaning back with sieving of soil which revealed a large amount of iron material. It is unfortunate that the field school could not continue for the entire duration of the day however with the time we did have much progress was made which will hopefully lead onto great success in the upcoming days.

In Focus: Graveyard Survey

Today saw the beginning of the graveyard survey in the main monastic complex at Glendalough. The students undertook a range of activities which furthered their surveying skills and applied their knowledge to a research project. To begin the students were taken through the health & safety guidelines. Safety for both students and public was under constant enforcement throughout the day with things such as tripping hazards being monitored.

The survey was taken today in a section near the main entrance to the graveyard. A series of gravestones, slabs, boobie tombs and many other features appear in linear patterns which the students wish to record. They wished to continue with a survey undertaken by the discovery programme which mapped out a percentage of the grave markers in the monastic complex.

In the first part of the morning the students recorded features using a graveyard feature record form. Pictured below, the form allows for a great level of detail to be taken when recording. This intricate procedure allows for an in depth analysis of the graveyard later on.

Later in the morning the students were broken into separate groups and were sent to plan a specific row of grave markers. Using a drawing board, aerial map and permatrace each group was sent to plan a set of graves themselves. They started planning the unidentified gravestones onto permatrace placed above the discovery programme survey pictured below. By measuring two points from known measurements they were able to close in on key points of unmarked gravestones. The entire grave was mapped out in this method and added to the overall graveyard survey. This technique was used throughout the day along with cataloging each feature on the graveyard feature recording form. Below is a set of photographs taken during the graveyard survey.

                                                                                                                             By Emily Geoghegan
                                                                                                                                   Brandon Walsh

Graveyard Recording Sheet (i)

Graveyard Recording Sheet (ii)

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 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

Refresher's Day ! Wednesday 29th January

Hello everyone, 

The Society will have a stall at Refreshers Day tomorrow! It is your chance to join the Society if you still haven't, or to invite your friends to join.  Refresher's Day will take place Wednesday 29th January 10 am - 4 pm  Astra Hall (Old Student Centre) More information here: http://ucdsocieties.com/events/refreshers-day/