The Early Start in Irish Archaeology provides students with a unique perspective on Ireland’s culture, history, and landscapes. It is equally suited to anthropology majors and students with no previous experience of archaeology or anthropology. Through illustrated lectures, class discussion, and field trips to spectacular monuments, students gain an understanding of the broad sweep of Ireland’s history from the colonisation of the island after the last Ice Age to the birth of the modern era in the seventeenth century. We pay particular attention to key themes and subjects with contemporary resonance, including:

• ongoing debates about ‘the origins of the Irish’, increasingly informed by ancient DNA
• the rich archaeological evidence for interactions between locals and incomers during the Viking Age
• the impact of climate change on societies in ancient Ireland
• and the globally important art produced in Ireland, both during the Stone Age and in the early medieval period (e.g., the Tara brooch and the Book of Kells)

 

Field Trips

About half of the contact time is in the form of field trips designed to give students as diverse an experience of Ireland as possible. The sites visited range from fascinating local ruins off the beaten tourist trails to internationally famous archaeological complexes. In addition to several trips around Cork and neighbouring counties, we explore Dublin, Galway, and the stunning limestone landscapes of the Burren and the Aran Islands. Here, soil erosion, some of it due to human intervention, has exposed the bedrock to dramatic effect, and the stone has been used to construct iconic monuments such as the magnificent cliff-edge fort of Dún Aonghasa.