Is there a future for development-led Archaeology in Ireland?

Graph of Irish excavation licences issued in 2012 and possible future activity.

Since 2008, following the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy, Ireland has endured one of the deepest recessions on record. The country has lost its economic sovereignty and continuing austerity has decimated investment in both the public and private sectors. The decline in archaeology has been continuing since 2007 and there has been a massive ...

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New data is good news for Irish archaeology indicating the decline in excavation is slowing.

Graph of excavation licences issued per quarter January 2012-April 2013.

New data suggests that the rate of decline in archaeological excavation in Ireland is slowing. In the first quarter of 2013 to the 31 of March there were 112 excavation licenses issued by the National Monuments Service in the Republic of Ireland. This is a small reduction of 6.6% in the number issued in the same ...

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Continuing decline in Irish archaeological activity outstrips the decline in construction

Licences chart

In my last post I noted that archaeological excavation licences issued in the Republic of Ireland in 2012 had fallen by 18.6% from the number issued in 2011. I suggested that this indicated that both archaeological and related construction activity had continued to decline in 2012. This has now been confirmed by the publication by ...

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Excavation Licenses indicate continued reduction in archaeological and construction activity in 2012

Excavationlicences2000-2012

  Archaeological Licenses indicate that in 2012 archaeological activity in Ireland continued to contract for the sixth year reaching a fifteen year low. Figures provided by the National Monuments Service indicate that the total number of archaeological excavation licenses issued for the year 2012 was 454. This is a reduction of 18.6% from the 558 licenses issued ...

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Indicators suggest that archaeological and construction activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012.

Indicators suggest that archaeological and construction activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012.

At the end of the third quarter of 2012, 375 archaeological excavation licenses had been issued by the National Monuments Service. This represents just 67% of the 558 licenses issued in 2011. These quarterly results will not have analytical value until year on year comparisons can be made beginning in 2013, however, if this trend ...

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German Army documents indicate serious planning for a WWII invasion of Ireland.

Militärgeographische Angaben über Irland, Military and geographical assessment of Ireland. Mullocks Auctions UK.

Appearing at auction this week at Mullock’s Auctions in Shropshire is a surviving copy of the planning documents prepared for a German invasion of Ireland. As part of the planning for the invasion of Britain in 1940 the Department for War Maps and Surveying of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), German Army High Command, produced a ...

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Department of the Environment issues new draft guidelines on carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment

In July of this year the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government issued new guidelines for planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála on carrying out environmental impact assessment. The guidelines define environmental impact assessment as the role of the planning authority and establish new procedures to carry out assessments in an open and ...

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Environmental impact assessment and the demolition of national monuments

The national monument at Lismullin, Co. Meath which was identified during road construction.

  New regulations introduce an important change in the way environmental impact assessment is carried out in Ireland in order to comply with a ruling of the European Court. In future environmental impact assessment will be the responsibility of the competent authority that will come to a decision after receiving an environmental impact statement from the ...

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Was there malaria in prehistoric Ireland?

The range of mosquito species Anopheles claviger (Meigen) from diptera-culcidae.0catch.com

  Malaria could partly explain the widespread iron-deficiency anaemia seen in Irish Early Bronze Age cemeteries. I am spending this summer writing a book on Ireland in the Bronze Age and at the moment I am working on a section on human health. The evidence from cemeteries where there is adequately preserved skeletal material, and these remains have ...

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Analysis of excavation licensing figures for 2011 correctly predicted reduction in construction output.

Central Statistics Office

In my blog post of 12 January 2012 "Excavation Licenses indicate continued reduction in archaeological and construction activity in 2011" I noted that a reduction in archaeological excavation licenses issued in 2011 of 19.6% would indicate a similar drop in the Production and in Building and Construction Index (PBCI) compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The ...

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Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the first half of 2012-revised. 9/07/12

Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the first half of 2012.

  Archaeological excavation licensing figures for the first half of 2012 suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline. As of 30 June 2012, 230 archaeological excavation licenses had been issued by the National Monuments Service. This represents just 41% of the 558 licenses issued in 2011. The quarterly results will not have analytical value until year ...

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Identifying pottery fire-pits in the archaeological record

Cloghabreedy, Co. Tipperary Site 125.3

Thanks to the work of the UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology it may now be possible to identify the pottery fire-pits of the Irish prehistoric pottery industry. One of the most characteristic artefacts of the Irish Bronze Age is pottery. It was produced in large quantities and is found at all types of sites from settlement and ...

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The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Kildare

The Perceptory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Tully near Kildare

For three hundred years the town of Kildare was host to a house of crusader knights. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights of Malta, originated in the early twelfth century as an international monastic order based on the rule of St. Augustine. The order was established ...

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Early indicators suggest that activity in the Irish archaeological and construction sectors continued to decline in the first quarter of 2012: updated

Excavation licenses 2000-2011

Update 14/5/2012 There was no sign of recovery in April as The Irish Construction PMI published by Ulster Bank posted another fall, declining to 45.4 in April, from 46.7 in March. This is the sharpest rate of decline in the sector since October 2011 and suggests archaeological activity in Ireland is continuing to fall. See true economics. In my ...

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