Field Schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

Each year I teach a Summer Field School Class at several important archaeological sites throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (see course materials). This was the result of years of preparation to have this opportunity for me and my students to conduct this work. This took an effort to arrange for the field trip, including coordination with the Environmental Service, Northern Ireland, Queen's University, the Discovery Program in the Republic of Ireland, travel agencies, and weekly meetings with my students throughout the year. This will be carried out every summer for the next several years. The purpose of the class is to teach the students about archaeological field survey, geophysical applications, and recording strategies. Every summer we visit several sites in Northern Ireland and the Republic. The focus of my research has been on Navan Fort and Haughey's Fort. Importantly, we are in the process of setting up a student exchange program between CSULB and Queen's University for studies in archaeology (see Exchange Program below).

The excellent work of the Navan Research Group has made it increasingly clear that the legendary prehistoric capital of Ulster at Navan, in Co. Armagh, comprised a sizable archaeological complex (Mallory 1987, 1992b; Lynn 1992, 1994). Indeed, previous research has identified over forty archaeological sites which suggest that the Navan Complex is comparable to other major ritual complexes in Ireland like Tara (O'Riordan 1968) and Rathcroghan (Waddell 1988). Our specific research interest is focused on the Navan Complex during the Bronze and Iron Ages. We are particularly curious about the economic and demographic changes that occurred during the transition between these two periods, B.C. 400 and A.D 200.

Within the Navan complex, the two prominent sites are Navan Fort and Haughey's Fort, Late Bronze and Iron Age hillforts (Mallory 1987, 1992b; Lynn 1992, 1994). Both sites are more than 300 meters across and contain multiple features and subsurface structures (Figure 2). They are only a kilometer from one another and are a rarity on the prehistoric landscape of Northern Ireland (Warner 1994). Recent excavations in the Navan region have been concentrated in the interior of the Navan enclosure and ceremonial structure (Lynn 1986, 1994), at Haughey's Fort (Mallory 1988, 1991a, 1994), and at the King's Stables (Lynn 1977), and it is from this research that most of our cultural and chronological inferences can be drawn.

It is at the end of the Middle Bronze Age that we begin to see the Navan complex taking real shape. Extant archaeological evidence for the Navan complex shows that during the Bronze and Iron Ages there is increased intensification of agricultural production, greater emphasis on livestock herding, community aggregation, stratified social systems, complex exchange networks, construction of large ceremonial structures (40 meters across) and large public works. One such significant feature is the Black Pig's Dyke, which is a double ditch more than 5 meters deep that winds its way across the landscape for more than 40 kilometers (Mallory 1987, 1992b; Lynn 1992, 1994). The labor required to construct this feature was extraordinary indeed. Both forts produced evidence for intensive occupation, with gold, bronze, and iron artifacts. The existence of exceptionally large dogs and cattle, and rare exotic trade items (an ape skull from Northern Africa) all imply a high status for the occupants. Interestingly, the Black Pig's Dyke and the Navan Fort ceremonial structure have both been dated to B.C. 95 by means of dendrochronology (Bailey 1994; Warner 1994).

Several researchers have emphasized the need to examine diachronic and synchronic variation in human behavior during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Towards this end our collaborative research specifically seeks to answer the following questions:

What is the nature of variation in the size and organization of prehistoric communities in the Navan region through time?

What is the nature of the political and ceremonial evolutionary processes during the Bronze and Iron Ages?

What is the nature of economic specialization in the use of the environment in the study area?

What is the nature of change in population levels and densities in the Navan region during the Bronze and Iron Ages, particularly during the transition period?

What is the nature of variation in the degree of specialization in the production and use of artifact assemblages in the Navan region? Specifically, what was the extent and magnitude of ceramic and metal work production in the Navan area?

Research Framework

To answer these questions, we and our colleagues from Northern Ireland have begun the process of structuring a long-term research program that incorporates several major geophysical and archaeological study components. Archaeological theory is the cornerstone of any research design. The way archaeologists study the past is based on implicit or explicit theoretical constructs (Larson et al. 1994; Larson et al. 1996). We pose problems, we choose units of archaeological observation, we sample the archaeological record, and we structure our data collection strategies in a deliberate manner. The greatest advantage associated with geophysical prospecting is that the results can often be used to design archaeological data collection in the field, i.e, -- archaeological data are collected relevant to specific research questions deduced from theoretical constructs. Sample data can be collected from specific features such as house floors, hearths, metal work areas, and ceremonial structures, once they have been detected in geophysical surveys. Thus, the sample unit is the targeted features rather than some arbitrary notion of excavated space (Aldenderfer 1987; Plog 1978). As a result of this research process, the areas determined to be high probability loci for archaeological material and environmental data are intensively investigated in the field using high resolution geophysical methods and small incremental bore samples, column samples, and test excavations. All items collected are subjected to various material analyses which ultimately feed back into the research program design to explain the causal mechanisms of cultural evolutionary processes.

We worked at Dun Aengus, Early Christian Site, Iron Age Roasting Pits on Erin Island in the Republic of Ireland. Dun Aengus is perhaps the most famous site in all of Europe and was a major Iron Age settlement.