The weekend of the 2nd July saw the 20^th anniversary of the Achill Archaeological Field School and their hosting of a conference focused on the archaeology and history of Achill and other western islands. The Discovery Programme's environmentalist, Dr Ingelise Stuijts, presented at the conference on a subject beyond the usual confines of environmental archaeology; that of sun worship on Achill and islands in the west within in a broader European context. Midsummer, the voyage of the sun and the modern legacy of sun worship were central themes.

This was not the first departure into the subject of sun worship as in December 2010 Dr Stuijts was invited to present on sun worship in Scandinavia as part of the Association for Environmental Archaeology's annual conference being held in Kyoto, Japan. The lecture was simultaneously translated to both the audience present and a wider broadcast audience and is available to view online at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.