The study of Lake settlement is at the heart of Irish archaeology. Mesolithic occupation sites, Bronze Age wooden platforms, post-alignments etc., Iron Age structures and Early Christian crannógs in lakes have provided much of our knowledge of prehistoric and medieval settlement organisation, agriculture, industry, economy and crafts. This is because lake settlements typically have waterlogged, archaeologically rich deposits containing well-preserved structures, artefacts and palaeobotanical evidence. However there are major questions to be asked of all of this material, due to a lack of integrated archaeological research to date.
It is appropriate that the Discovery Programme has involved itself in lake settlement studies, as the subject can be associated with most of the major research developments in Irish archaeology from the initial antiquarian work of Wood-Martin, the major Bronze Age and Early Christian crannóg excavations of the Harvard expeditions, the Lough Gara project, the Moynagh Lough crannóg excavations, the published inventories and Sites & Monuments Records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland and the development of the collections of the National Museum of Ireland and the Ulster Museum. There have also been some recent developments in lake settlement studies, such as the Crannóg Archaeological Project in Lough Ennell.
The potential for the Discovery Programme
There was already a large research resource available in the published literature, museum archives, archaeological excavation results, artefactual and palaeoenvironmental studies. However there was also great potential for new and innovative modern approaches, including aerial photography, underwater remote sensing techniques, underwater survey and the exciting range of inter-disciplinery investigations that are part of modern wetlands archaeological excavations. There is also great potential within the landscape archaeological approach, as developed by the Discovery Programme, to integrate individual lake settlements into their wider social, economic and ideological landscapes. Lake settlement archaeology also provides great potential for collaboration with quaternary scientists, early Irish historians, geographers, other archaeological institutions and specialists. There is also the potential for exchange of experience, staff and co-operation with successful lake settlement projects in Europe
The following modules have been investigated as part of this project.
- KINALE 1 – Studies of an Irish Lake
- KINALE 2 – Derragh Mesolithic Excavations
- ‘Islands of the Dead’
- Landscape of Lisnacrogher
- Upper Shannon Lakes
These pages can only give a static, interim picture of this project - work on which is continuing. For further information please contact the project team.
Project Director: Christina Fredengren