Glendalough Field School 2014: Part 4

The rain and mist didn't dampen the spirits of students at Glendalough today. Today saw new groups getting the chance to excavate at the different trenches and others receiving the chance to take part in different surveying methods including: drawing survey which has been taken place beside Our Ladies church to the west of both trench 11 and 12, geophysical survey and digital survey this week.

Weather throughout the day fluctuated between sun and rain with sun prevailing for most of the day. We had a large amount of rain towards the end of the day which luckily only took place as we were cleaning up.

Trench 10 saw a new day of excavating and students got the opportunity to work along the pattern bank. For many it’s their first experience of an archaeological dig and the consensus is that their loving it despite their aching muscles from being on the hill.  A sondage was opened on the western side of the trench and some more stones have been uncovered with this. The eastern side was brought down to a context just below the topsoil and work will continue on this tomorrow.

Trenches 11 and 12 experienced an exciting day to those previously. Excavation of the eastern section of trench 12 revealed what appears to be a stone structure running north-west to south-east and then curving to the south. To the west of the wall a hearth is making an appearance with a large amount of burning and charcoal present around the area. Agricultural furrows continue to make an appearance to the west of the trench. A plan of these furrows was taken towards the end of the day which will make way for photography early tomorrow.

The students had also been taken on a range of other activities with certain groups doing surveying, digital surveying and geophysics. Speaking with students we received nothing but positive comments about doing each different task.

Trench 12 saw the appearance of less features today. Mattocking and troweling were undertaken earlier today with the rest of the day focusing on the contrasting colours of soil found throughout the trench. The main focus of the day was to better understand what each of these colours may have possibly meant. Finds from the trench included animal bone, medieval pottery and iron work.

All in all day 4 saw the worst weather so far, which didn't hinder the performance of the students. Progress has increased dramatically on both trenches with a range of different discoveries coming from all three trenches. Hopefully tomorrow we can take these discoveries and elaborate on them and their uses.  

by Brandon Walsh

Emily Geoghegan

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

Dear everyone,

The Archaeology Society is keen on promoting the work of its members. This is why we have a "On the web" section on our website where you can be listed. If you have a website, a blog, a Youtube channel, a photostream....Anything online where you publish your work (eg. experimental work, reflections, articles, reports, reviews....), LET US KNOW. We will be more than happy to list you on our website !

For any question, please email me at alexandra.guglielmi@ucdconnect.ie .

All the best,
Alex
Web administrator

End of year table quiz 2014: the photographs

On Thursday 24th April 2014, the Society hosted its end of year Table Quiz in the Red Room of the new student centre in UCD. It was an evening of great entertainment and fun. The photographs from the night are now available on our Flickr gallery.

Conor McDermott was our Quiz Master for the night

Dig season is open!

The Archaeological Society would like to wish you all a very nice summer and hope that those of you going on excavations will have a nice experience.

Here are some of the excavations that will be taking place this summer:

- Excavations at Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward, Co. Meath (Follow the updates on Facebook)
- Excavations at Mar Lodge, Cairngorms, Scotland (View the UCD research page for this project)
- Excavations at Rathnadrinna, Co. Tipperary (Follow the updates on Facebook).
- The UCD School of Archaeology annual Field School in Glendalough: check out this website for updates from the field !