This month’s column will head to Northern Ireland, profoundly aware of the sensitivities of this place, its peoples, and its past. Inevitably, there are gaps in Current Archaeology’s narrative: the magazine began in 1966, which sadly aligns with the timeline of Northern Ireland’s recent, often painful history. What follows is a partial account, but no less powerful for that. I will travel clockwise around the six historic counties, recognising that they are no longer in use as administrative structures, but they are the best way to shape my narrative.
As a starting point, some wider reviews that have touched on sites there (and in the Republic of Ireland) include those covering the Neolithic, in CA 296 (November 2014) and CA 401 (August 2023); the Romans, in CA 317 (August 2016); and the Vikings, in CA 304 (July 2015).
County Derry and County Antrim
County Derry provides a neat microcosm of Northern Ireland’s archaeology from prehistory to the 20th century. The most famous site mentioned is also one of the oldest: Mesolithic Mount Sandel in Coleraine. CA 59 (November 1977) reported from there when it was first excavated, but there were, alas, no further updates until CA 330 (September 2017) picked up the thread on the publication of the lead excavator Peter Woodman’s book, Ireland’s First Settlers. CA 331 (October 2017) then places the site in wider context in a review of the British Mesolithic.
DNA denouements and coining a phrase