Location:

Loch Garman, Ireland

Program Type:

Study Abroad

Degree Level:

Undergraduate

Term:

Summer

Program Overview

Program Description:

'Experimental Archaeology and Materiality of The Medieval Period in Ireland' is an Irish Archaeology Field School program, is led by Dr. Brendan O’Neill of University College Dublin and Dr. Denis Shine of the IAFS, and run in partnership with the Institute for Field Research. This four week credited program provides a practical introduction to the role of crafts, technologies, and construction techniques in Ireland throughout time. Focusing on both the built environment and materiality, students will actively participate in a range of experimental archaeology workshops and building projects. These will focus on how things were made, used and their resulting archaeological signals. Students will be equipped with a general understanding of medieval society, with a specific focus on the role of technologies and materiality in people’s everyday lives. In addition to archaeological knowledge, students will build more general ‘life-skills’ through innovative experiential learning, problem-based learning, peer learning, problem solving, teamwork, time management, and resourcefulness as well as project design and implementation.

While students in the experimental archaeology program will not be excavating, they will be actively partnering with the archaeologists and can expect to understand the archaeology intimately. As archaeologists uncover the history of both the site and building, the results will be communicated essentially in 'live time' to the experimental archaeology students, underpinning their projects with exceptional authenticity and increased significance.

Setting Description:

The Irish National Heritage Park (INHP), Ferrycarrig, County Wexford, Ireland, is an open-air museum which recreates the key stages in Ireland’s past. The park is a 35 acre (14 hectares) outdoor museum depicting 9000 years of re-created Irish History situated within natural forestry and wet woodlands. Covering prehistoric through Norman periods, and featuring various buildings and structures typical of each period, the park is a cornerstone of ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ and provides a stunning backdrop to our archaeological dig and research project - Digging the Lost Town of Carrig. Students will learn methods in Experimental Archaeology adjacent to an authentic ringwork castle (the Carrick ringwork). This ringwork is one of Ireland's most important medieval monuments and is crucial to the earliest stages of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, being the first Norman fortification built in the country in 1169 CE/AD.

Cost:

4,500 USD. The program price includes the following: • Full-board accommodation in County Wexford • Full tuition including all instruction, workshops and material related to the course • Field trips

Additional Program Information

Scholarships:

No