In March, four faculty, two staff, and fourteen students from UWM took part in a one-week exploratory field school on Achill Island, off the coast of County Mayo in western Ireland. Bettina Arnold, Robert Jeske, John Richards and Patricia Richards put together a cooperative, multidisciplinary approach to a teaching and research project that centers on the archaeology of mortuary and secular landscapes. The project is the beginning of what we hope will be a long-term research project in conjunction with the Achill Field School and the National University of Ireland Galway. The one week study program included lectures on Irish archaeology and archaeological techniques, site visits, and some architectural survey of Slievemore, an historic village that was deserted in the 19th century. The Achill Field School staff of Theresa MacDonald, Nicholas Brannon and Anja Goethals proved to be excellent hosts and teachers.
Future research potential includes several sites that have not been professionally examined to date. One possible site is a promontory fort on Achillbeg Island, which includes a Medieval ecclesiastic occupation containing a probable round tower foundation and multiple cist burials of monks. Another site, also on Achillbeg, is a stratified midden site containing Medieval deposits and a shell midden that has yielded a bead from the Iron Age La Tène culture, and which may possibly contain Bronze age materials as well. A third possibility includes a megalithic tomb, which probably dates to either the Bronze or Neolithic periods, near the deserted village of Slievemore, on Achill.
The next stage in the project is to determine which research course best fits the needs of the UWM faculty and students, as well as the needs of the Achill Field School and the Irish Heritage Council.
The project is partially funded by the UWM Celtic Studies Program and the Archaeological Research Laboratory.
