uas newsletter autumn 2012

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EDITOR: Duncan Berryman. School of Geography, Archaeology & Palaeoecology, Queen's

University Belfast, BELFAST, BT7 1NN Email: [email protected]

THE ULSTER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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FROM THE EDITOR This summer has again proved a busy time for the UAS with a number of field trips and surveys taking place. The members have been as actively involved as always. Many of our members have also been digging with the National Trust at Downhill, this has been the fourth year there and the yards are now looking presentable, we also have a much better understanding of how the buildings functioned. As the summer ends, we now prepare to return to our exciting programme of lectures.

Many of you will have heard recent reports of local archaeology in the news. Back in July the BBC reported that there are about 1.2 million archaeological artefacts held in storage units by archaeological consultancies because no one else will house these objects. This was debated in Stormont and all parties supported the formation of a working group to investigate a solution to this problem. These artefacts are part of our heritage and should be made accessible to the public through museums or exhibitions. You may also have seen the news of the crannog excavation in Fermanagh, part of a road upgrade scheme. Very few crannogs have been excavated and the levels of preservation are comparable to Deer Park Farms, Antrim and Wood Quay, Dublin. There was some concern on the internet that this site would not be fully excavated and that some information would be lost as the contract was about to run out before the excavation had finished. But the Environment Minister stepped in to extend the excavation and delay road construction in that area. The excavation is run by an experienced director and additional specialists have been brought in to assist in the recovery of preserved timbers. NIEA have provided a special report for the UAS Newsletter.

Archaeology has also featured in the national news with the success of DigVentures and their first season of excavation at Flag Fen. This project was one of the first archaeological excavations to use money donated by the public and staffed by volunteers. Some really interesting items were uncovered during the excavation and the directors continually publicised the site's progress through social media and the Internet.

I recently bought a copy of Colin Breen's excellent book on Dunluce castle and its town. This is the culmination of a number of years of research into the castle and excavation of the town in the neighbouring field. It is well illustrated throughout with colour photos and plans from the excavations and surveys. Available from NIEA at only £11.50.

Duncan Berryman Newsletter Editor

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Newsletter Online You can now view a digital version of the Newsletter, with additional content and colour images. Go to http://issuu.com/ulsterarcsoc to view the latest issue and the previous edition. We will also be emailing out a pdf copy to our members. Don’t forget, you can get the latest news about the Society’s events and activities by following us on Twitter and Facebook

http://tinyurl.com/uastwitter http://tinyurl.com/uasfacebook

ULSTER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY EVENTS Lectures 24th September – Prof. Audrey Horning (QUB): A Tale of Five Sites -‐ Deciphering

the archaeological histories of Goodlands Co. Antrim from the neolithic to the 18th century

29th October – Roisin O’Reilly: The Archaeology of Witchcraft and Superstition in

Ireland 19th November – Dr Brian Williams (NIEA): The Economic and Social Value of

the Historic Environment in Northern Ireland 10th December – Robert Chapel (NAC): Oakgrove Cemetery -‐ A unique Middle

Bronze Age cemetery at Oakgrove Co. Londonderry

DATA PROTECTION In this digital age, many organisations hold a lot of information about us and many members will have provided the Society with some personal details. The Society only holds personal details for mailings from the UAS. Because of this, we must provide you with the following statement: "Under the provisions of the Data Protection legislation the Society is obliged to inform you that your details are stored on our computer for secretarial purposes only and will not passed on to any third party "

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SURVEY GROUP

Our survey season continues to provide us with a few challenges, but a lot of enjoyment as well! In May we visited Rough Fort Rath at Moneyrannel in Limavady. This was one of the first properties that was presented to the National Trust in Northern Ireland, but dense foliage prevented accurate survey until this year, when much of it had been removed. This is a very impressive monument, with a large surrounding bank and ditch. Unfortunately, our survey instrument failed just after we started, but we were able to get the survey finished with hand tapes and a bit of improvisation. We later discovered that a major electronic component in the instrument had caused the problem and it would be cheaper to purchase a new instrument than have it repaired! While disappointing, it must be remembered that we have had this instrument since the inception of the survey group in 2005 and it has been in almost constant use ever since. Fortunately, our June survey was scheduled to take place at the Bishop’s Palace, Downhill, which we had previously surveyed and the instrument would not be required. Our task here was to record the many features of the East and West Yards that had been uncovered during the recent excavations, for which we only needed hand tapes and notebooks. However, this time the weather intervened and we had to abandon the survey before we became thoroughly saturated – again. Fortunately, we were able to return in July and were able to complete our work in more sympathetic weather conditions.

In early August, we made our way to Janey’s house at Craigantlet to wash and catalogue the finds we had recovered at Ballygarvan in April (see the Summer 2012 Newsletter). This took longer than we had anticipated, but many interesting finds were examined and should add significantly to the archaeological knowledge of this site. We were fortunate to have our President, Barrie Hartwell along, who advised the group as work progressed. The day was much enhanced by a copious supply of buns and other treats, generously supplied by Janey and June. Many thanks to Janey for making this such a special day. An interim report for the site at Ballygarvan is being posted on the UAS website.

The committee kindly agreed to fund a replacement survey instrument, which has been delivered in time for our next scheduled outing at the end of August. We hope to return again to the Divis site, this time to survey the site of a farm at Johnson’s Green, where our new survey instrument will be in action for the first time. Thanks again to Mal, who, despite his very onerous work commitments continues to find time to facilitate our survey activities.

Harry Welsh Fieldwork Co-ordinator

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UAS EVENING TRIP TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES ON DIVIS On 25th June a number of members of the Ulster Archaeology Society braved the winds on Divis Mountain for a guided tour by Malachy Conway, Archaeologist for the National Trust. Malachy described the history of the area and how the National Trust acquired the land after the Ministry of Defence had ceased to use it for training purposes. The National Trust have set in place a series of measures to open up the archaeology of the Belfast Hills to the public, namely through the creation of new paths, which allow easier access to various sites located right on the doorstep of Belfast. Our first stop of the evening was at a site simply described as a ‘sheep fold’ on the original Ordnance Survey maps, but this was no sheep fold! On first inspection it appeared simply as a circular, walled feature. However, on closer examination the wall had what appeared to be cells built into half the structure and a small walled passage around the other side. At some point in the past the structure had been built into a boundary wall. The best description offered by one member of the group was of ‘an above ground souterrain’, but it was clear from the size of the structure that it would be difficult to roof and lacked a defensible position. We then continued along the newly laid out path to another ‘sheep fold’ site, only this one was on a smaller scale. Malachy believes that these features are unique to Divis but if anyone comes across any similar sites to get in touch with him or the National Trust. Our final stop of the evening took us back down along the stream towards the road. Here, scattered along the stream, are the remains of possible prehistoric houses, most likely dating to the Bronze Age. Malachy showed us the site previously recorded by the UAS Survey Group (the survey report is available on the society’s website) before taking us further downstream to see the newly identified prehistoric houses. It was clear from our visit that a systematic survey of the National Trust land is required to enable a wider understanding of the archaeology of the Belfast Hills and Malachy, on concluding the tour, thanked the UAS Survey Group for their outstanding work in recording sites on National Trust property across Northern Ireland. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Malachy for taking time out of his schedule to act as our guide, his enthusiasm, as ever, was infectious and despite the overcast conditions, a good time was had by all.

Aaron McIntyre

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UAS EVENING TRIP TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES ON DIVIS

The ‘cashel’ enclosure

The ‘cell-‐bay’ enclosure

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UAS EVENING TRIP TO 14CHRONO CENTRE On Monday 6th August, a group of Ulster Archaeological Society members were given a tour of the 14CHRONO centre in the Department of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast. We were met in the foyer of the Department by Paula Reimer, who had kindly laid on tea and coffee for us. We then proceeded to the basement of the building, which houses the Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) dating facility. Once in the lab, Ron Reimer explained the process for dating each sample. The original carbon dating machines used at Queen’s used counted the radioactive decays of the carbon-‐14 atoms in the sample. This took a very long time to process and required large amounts of wood or bone to produce a sample. Thus, to establish a date for the site, the archaeologists would have to sacrifice a whole bone or collect a lot of charcoal or wood. However, the development of the Accelerator Mass Spectrometer has allowed much smaller pieces of wood and bone to be processed and to supply reliable dates. The AMS machine housed in the laboratory at Queen’s was manufactured by National Electrostatics Corp in America, one of only two manufacturers. This machine is one of a relatively small number of AMS machines across the world. The laboratory was set up in 2006 and the machine was installed in January 2007, having been purchased with a very generous donation to the University. The preparation of samples starts by turning the material into pure carbon and placing it into a sample holder. A number of samples are then loaded into a wheel that is placed into the AMS machine. Each sample is heated to produce an ion beam that enters the machine. The areas that the wheels are loaded into are subject to very high voltages and are surrounded by safety cages. The beam is then bent to remove all the impurities and the sensors at the end count the individual atoms of carbon-‐14 and carbon-‐13. The ration between these two ions allows the age to be calculated with some conversion. The staff of 14CHRONO are currently involved in research to refine the calibration of dates using the calibration curve. The Ulster Archaeological Society would like to thank Paula and Ron Reimer for a really interesting and informative tour of the AMS facility. Most of our members will know something about carbon dating, but not many will have had an opportunity to see the machine that counts the atoms.

Duncan Berryman

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UAS EVENING TRIP TO 14CHRONO CENTRE

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MAY LECTURE

The Society’s May lecture was given by Dr Colm Donnolly, of Queen's University Belfast’s Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, and was titled – “From Crossan to the Acre: a transatlantic archaeological research programme”. Colm’s lecture presented the results, to date, of a collaborative project between QUB and the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. Colm began by thanking the large number of people who have been involved in the project, especially the parish of St Patrick’s in the Acre. Although it has been running since 2010, this project is still in it’s infancy and there is much to be developed. There have been two seasons of excavation in Lowell and one in Tyrone, both areas were to be revisited in the summer of 2012. The town of Lowell is north of Boston and was the birthplace of America’s industrial revolution. Originally a greenfield site, a group of Boston entrepreneurs diverted the Merrimack and Concord rivers to power the water-‐wheels of new factories. In 1822, Hugh Cummiskey hired workers to dig these new canals and the workers set up their homes in the Acre. Cummiskey was born in Ireland and was working in Boston in the early 1800s; his marriage papers say that he came from Crossan in Co Tyrone. He owned a brewery in Boston and worked on the development of new land in Boston Bay. He gained some prominence in the running of the town and was made a constable. As the settlement of Lowell developed, Cummiskey acted as a gang leader and brought more labour from Crossan and Tyrone, chain migration brought relatives of those already working for Cummiskey out to America. By 1830, there were 400 Irish living in the Acre and the first Catholic church, St Patrick’s, was constructed from timber in 1831, it was rebuilt in 1854. The early maps of the area show a house in front of the church. The excavation season of 2010 focused on this area and two trenches were opened in front of the current church, in the hope that they would reveal the walls of the building. Trench 1 had a compacted clay surface and the trench for the sill beam of a wall; trench 2 contained a stoney compact surface, possibly a yard surface. Cartographic evidence indicated that trench 1 was inside the house of Fr McDermott. Newspapers from the 1830s show that there was a split in the parish and Fr McDermott set up a separate church. But when St Patrick’s was trying to buy the land in front of the church to allow it to be rebuilt, it was mistakenly sold to Fr McDermott, who proceeded to build a house on it and prevented the church from expanding. In 2011, geophysics was carried out over the area. Trench 1 was reopened and a new trench, trench 3, was placed to investigate an anomaly in the geophysics survey. The anomaly was shown to be a water cistern with a hand cut granite lid, used for the sewers of the city. Trench 3 also contained a lot of artefacts, including clay pipes, rosary beads, iron nails, cattle bones, oyster shells and clinker. The bones and oysters reveal the consumption of cheap food stuffs and the clinker was an inexpensive fuel.

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While these excavations were taking place, Dr Eileen Murphy and others were carrying out a survey of St Patrick’s cemetery in Lowell. This contained many slate headstones carved with fashionable symbols of the time. These headstones were produced by the Yankee stone cutters who were producing for all parts of the Lowell community. Many of the headstones contained Irish and Catholic symbols, indicating that the Irish were specifying the designs on their monuments. Also in 2011, the Irish side of the project got underway. The farmstead of the Cummiskey family in Crossan had been identified through documentary research. Griffith’s Valuation shows John Cummiskey holding two houses, which may have been two separate farmsteads that were combined. In 1761, the Cummiskeys were leased land for 31 years, indicating that they were Catholics. At that time Catholics were only allowed to lease land for a limited period of time. Local memory told that anyone who wanted to travel to America to work with Hugh Cummiskey had to visit Crossan to be checked by the Cummiskey family and they may have received financial assistance which they later repaid while working in Lowell. Work at the first house indicated that it may have been a byre dwelling that was extended in the nineteenth century. However, virtually no artefacts were uncovered. The 2012 season will focus on the second house. Social research into the experiences of the Irish in Lowell has shown that there was considerable variation across Massachusetts. The church of St Patrick’s was rebuilt in 1853-‐4. It was the work of Patrick C Keeley, reputedly the architect of 600 churches across America. This rebuilding coincided with a period of hostility to immigrants and the politics of the “know nothings”. There was a feeling of hostility to the Irish across Massachusetts, and in Lowell, the Irish community faced down a number of Yankee mobs. But Lowell was different to many of the other industrial towns of Massachusetts; here the Irish had become well integrated into the community and a number of the Irish had become highly influential in the city. 1833 saw the first St Patrick’s Day celebrations and soon after it became a regular festival. Unlike other towns, the Irish had quickly settled and become part of the community. In later periods, other immigrant groups moved into the Acre and set up their own communities, in the same way as the Irish had done in the early 1800s. To close, Colm reflected on the number of people on both sides of the Atlantic that have become involved in this project and how it has developed into a genuine partnership between all of those involved. One of the key aims now was to reconnect with the Tyrone diaspora in Massachusetts.

Duncan Berryman

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INTERIM ACCOUNT OF THE EXCAVATION OF A CRANNOG AT DRUMCLAY, COUNTY FERMANAGH

Ongoing from June 2012 The Crannog at Drumclay, excavated by Declan Hurl on the Cherrymount Enniskillen link road provided the first opportunity to excavate a crannog in Fermanagh since Wakeman’s work in the late 19th century. It was unfortunately unavoidable in the road scheme and NIEA worked with Roads Service to establish the archaeological response. At first a plan was devised to preserve the crannog in situ beneath a bridge. However, this proved too difficult and an excavation commenced. On review (a condition of licencing) by NIEA Built Heritage at the end of July, the excavation was extended to account for a greater depth and complexity of archaeological stratigraphy than first anticipated. Roads Service readily agreed to an alternative excavation strategy, an increase in the size of the archaeological team and to the provision of additional material resources. The project is regularly reviewed and monitored by the NIEA, Amey Ltd and Road Services. The excavation is now being co-‐directed by Nora Bermingham, an environmental archaeologist commissioned by the Department of the Environment. Caitriona Moore, a wood specialist has also been appointed to ensure identification and sampling of structural wood and wooden artefacts as well as their first stage treatment on site. Crannog deposits may originally have been 3-‐4m deep with the upper 2m ranging in date from c. AD 900 to AD 1400. The lower 2m remain to be excavated and the current date range may expand further. Evidence for houses with clay floors, hearths and post and wattle walls have been recorded. Finds so far include much Ulster Coarse Ware broadly divided between ‘souterrain’ ware and ‘everted rim’ ware, parts of wooden objects including, parts of plates, lids for bowls, rough-‐outs for stave vessels and at least one boat timber. Metal finds include the shaft of a copper alloy pin, an iron plough share, well-‐preserved in the wet conditions and several fragments of whetstones all of which provide tangible evidence for the day to day farming activity of the occupants. Remains of leather shoes and cloth have also been recovered illustrating the importance of wetland sites in preserving the full spectrum of cultural material. Environmental sampling for insects, plant macrofossils, wood and other analyses will provide the kind of evidence recovered at Deerpark Farms and will aid reconstruction of the crannog’s environmental context and hopefully illustrate the more human details of lice and other insects living symbiotically with the inhabitants.

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THE WILLIAM DUNLOP ARCHAEOLOGICAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

It doesn’t take me to tell the readers of this Newsletter that Billy Dunlop was for many years the energetic heart of the UAS. His long-‐term editorship of this Newsletter, while impressive, was but one of his achievements. He was involved in just about every aspect of UAS life, from committee work, to attending lectures and field-‐trips to, in 2000, holding the position of President of the Society. With his passing in September last year, I lost a valued friend and a trusted mentor.

In the time after his death many of us contacted the Dunlop family to offer condolences on their loss and offer whatever help and assistance we could. I was honoured to have been asked by the family to be among the small group invited to assist in the redistribution of Billy's personal library. While some books went into my own collection, and some went to charity shops, I tried to ensure that as many as possible went to younger archaeologists. My reasoning was that many of the volumes were still good quality research and reference resources and deserved to see regular use. I also thought that passing on these books would help ensure Billy's legacy with a generation of graduates who hadn't been lucky enough to meet him in person. Having run through all these thoughts, I simply settled on the idea that, legacy or not, it would have been what Billy would have wanted. We then had to ask the question 'what is going to happen to Billy's photos?' Here was a difficult problem. Going back to the mid 1970s, Billy had been taking photographs of archaeological sites. The primary difficulty was that, unfortunately, no one in Billy's family has a particular interest in archaeology. While they realised that Billy had put an awful lot of time and effort into creating and cataloguing this collection, there was no one who wished to retain and curate it. The way it was put to me was: if I was interested, I was free to take it away, but otherwise it would be disposed of. Here was another problem -‐ as much as I admired and respected Billy, he wasn't a great photographer! True, some of his photographs were quite important in terms of being informal records of life on a number of the big research excavations of his day. However, the vast majority were of various excursions, through UAS or other bodies, to sites and monuments. These were simply 'tourist snaps' -‐ for the most part these could be easily replicated today.

In all honesty, I was filled with angst about this -‐ I didn't want to bring yet another box of stuff into my home that would sit in my attic gently decaying for the next few decades. Similarly, I did not fancy the idea of allowing this material to be dumped. Eventually my inner hoarder won out and I (very reluctantly) agreed to take the archive home to join the other detritus I've picked up in a life in archaeology. Over the next couple of months I started to go through the various packets of photos and examine some of their contents.

My first impression was that the candid shots of life on excavations were interesting and valuable as an archaeological resource in themselves. Billy's photos gave a glimpse of all the things that are a normal part of life for professional archaeologists, but not usually seen in the finished reports -‐ the team having lunch; someone setting up the dumpy level; people trowelling away in a trench; well-‐known and respected senior figures in the profession, sunburnt and in shorts, squinting at section faces. I immediately thought that these were exactly the sort of image that people would be interested in seeing -‐ part of the history of Irish archaeology.

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Closer examination of what I had initially dismissed as 'tourist snaps' revealed that these, too, had some measure of worth. Firstly, many were decent photos of interesting sites. Billy's photos had other things that made them special -‐ in particular, some captured unique moments that are unlikely ever to be replicated. To give one example: what are the chances of getting Prof. George Eogan, and Sir Colin Renfrew (the latter carrying a briefcase) on to Maeve's Cairn in the Carrowmore Complex (http://tinyurl.com/c94ec5p). No disrespect to any of those named above, but I reckon that it's a pretty unlikely situation that is unlikely to happen any time soon. In 1982 there was an international conference to discuss the results of Göran Burenhult 's excavations at Carrowmore -‐ and Billy was there to record it! It is fleeting moments like these that Billy captured -‐ wonderful little snippets of life ... of never-‐to-‐be-‐repeated scenes ... all otherwise lost, had it not been for Billy and his camera. In other cases Billy's snapshots -‐ many of which are dated -‐ may yet prove useful to students and those charged with the long-‐term management and preservation of these sites. Simply put, Billy's photos show the site as it was at a particular time and in a particular condition. Analyses of these images, in conjunction with other resources, may allow for fuller understandings of the vegetational and conservation histories of some sites, and assist in the planning of future conservation works.

Whatever the aesthetic/historical/sociological value of these images and their future research potential, they were never going to be appreciated by anyone if they could not be seen. For this reason, I put together a website with the rather grandiose title of: ‘The William Dunlop Archaeological Photographic Archive’ (http://tinyurl.com/7mh9dua), along with a page on Facebook to promote it (http://tinyurl.com/cdgcfwd). Much of my free time in the early part of 2012 has been taken up with scanning, cropping, and general manipulation of the photos. To date, I’ve uploaded over 700 photos, covering 11 Irish counties along with dedicated albums to a further seven major archaeological excavations. I had no particular goal in any of this, other than to allow Billy’s photos to be seen by the world – professional archaeologist and enthusiastic amateur alike. To date, the collections have received tens of thousands of views from all over the world. I frequently receive emails from strangers, telling me how they discovered the collection on the internet and have been inspired by the images to either read about Irish archaeology, or come visit this island. Even more gratifying has been the correspondence I have received from a substantial number of Billy’s friends, sharing reminiscences about field trips and excavations long past.

I have often wondered if I have done the right thing – would Billy have approved of my sharing his photographs in this manner? I can only believe that the effort he spent in cataloguing his collection suggests that he did want it to be seen by others. While such ‘social media’ as Facebook may well have been unfamiliar to Billy, I am equally certain that he would have approved of the manner in which his images have sparked research and good-‐natured debate. But most of all, I think he would have approved of people from diverse backgrounds taking an interest in our shared heritage and learning to value and appreciate it. Visit the archive at -‐ https://sites.google.com/site/dunloparchive/home

Robert Chapple

An unedited version of this is available on Robert’s blog -‐ http://rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/

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NIEA LECTURES Northern Ireland Environment Agency is providing a series of public lectures from 1.00pm to 2.00pm on the first Friday of each month of 2012. The venue is the Monuments and Buildings Record public reading room in Waterman House, 5-‐53 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LA. Information: 028 90 543 159 or email [email protected]. Admission is free. All welcome. Space is limited at these talks, so please come early to avoid disappointment. 21st September 1.00pm Malachy Conway, The National Trust – An Archaeological Survey of Divis and the Black Mountain 21st September 6.00pm Terence Reeves-‐Smyth, NIEA – The Annesley Inheritance: Castlewellan, Mount Panther and Donard Lodge 5th October John Meneely, Queen’s University, Belfast -‐ Mapping, Monitoring & Visualising our Built and Natural Heritage in 3D 2nd November Emily Murray, Queen’s University, Belfast, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork -‐ Carrickfergus Castle Barracks 7th December Mark Monaghan -‐ Harland and Wolff: The drawing offices. The forgotten artefact

BOOKS IVERNI: A prehistory of Cork By Prof. William O’Brien, £35 available from www.collinspress.ie. This is a really interesting book charting the prehistory of Cork through the monuments and artefacts. It is a large hard-‐backed volume and beautifully illustrated with coloured diagrams and photos throughout. O’Brien has devoted each chapter to a different period of Cork’s prehistory and addresses a number of issues in the subsections of the chapters. Beginning with a discussion of Ice Age hunters and the Mesolithic, we quickly move to the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and finally the Iron Age. The majority of the book is devoted to the Bronze Age, with three chapters covering settlement, economy, religion, society and warfare. Extensive use is made of excavations, surveys and artefacts to explain the discussion in the text. This is the first comprehensive account of prehistoric County Cork. This book is written in a very accessible manner and will interest the non-‐specialist, but there is also much detail on the key sites and artefacts for the professional. As professor at University College Cork, O’Brien is well placed to write on the subject and over the years he has carried out a number of excavations and research projects studying the late prehistoric period, specifically in the Southwest of Ireland. Prof. O’Brien spoke on this subject to the Ulster Archaeological Society back in 2008.

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BOOKS

Rathlin Island: An archaeological survey of a maritime landscape By Wes Forsythe, Rosemary McConkey. £30, available from TSO (www.tsoshop.co.uk) or NIEA. Yet again the staff of the Centre for Maritime Archaeology, UU Coleraine and NIEA have produced an excellent publication, covering everything from the natural history of the island and its archaeology to its industries and settlement. Lavishly illustrated throughout, with excellent diagrams and colour photographs, this book is both informative and attractive. The archaeological survey is comprehensive, covering all periods and many different site types. No discussion of Rathlin would be complete without consideration of the porcellanite mine at Brockley and Bruce’s Cave and Castle. All of these sites are explored in some detail, including new investigations at Bruce’s Castle. Dunluce Castle: History and Archaeology By Colin Breen. See ad on back page for more details. Available from July. This book promises to fill a deficit in archaeological knowledge in Northern Ireland; complimenting the work of Tom McNeill and Ruairi O'Baoill on Carrickfegus, we now have a publication on one of the most iconic buildings in the country. With the background of a number of seasons of excavation at, and research into the castle, Colin Breen is the best person to write the history of this building and its people. The Archaeology of Slieve Donard: A Cultural Biography of Ulster’s Highest Mountain By Sam Moore. £10, available from NIEA. This book examines the monuments on the summit of Donard, through myths and legends associated with the cairns and St Donard (a hermit disciple of Patrick). The mountain was used by pilgrims as part of a penitential journey during Lughnasa up to the 19th century. By 1826, the OS had demolished the cairns to facilitate the mapping of Ireland and during the 20th century, the Mourne Wall was constructed. This book highlights the importance of this mountain and how people have interacted with it over the centuries. Bargains from Oxbow Oxbow Books have a number of titles at discounted prices in their latest bargain catalogue that may appeal to anyone interested in the archaeology of Ulster. Visit www.oxbowbooks.com for more information and to order. Archaeology of Late Celtic Britain and Ireland -‐ £12.95 A View from the West: The Neolithic of the Irish Sea Zone -‐ £9.95 Defining a Regional Neolithic: Evidence from Britain and Ireland -‐ £9.95 From Bann Flakes to Bushmills: Papers in Honour of Prof. Peter Woodman -‐ £9.95 Text and Gloss: Studies in Insular Language and Literature -‐ £9.95 From Megaliths to Metals -‐ £15.00