The Discovery Programme and the LIARI Project Team would like to thank all those who took time out of their busy schedules to participate and engage in the lively discussions in the workshop groups.

The morning started with a short presentation from Dr Brian Lacey who introduced the members of the LIARI project team and welcomed our new research archaeologist, Gerard Dowling. There followed a series of presentations from members of the LIARI team who outlined key areas of investigation and how our core skills and expertise will be applied to create a new interpretation of the Later Irish Iron Age. Outlining the new scientific approaches, GIS and aerial survey and environmental investigations which will form the basis of the research, all of the speakers highlighted the need to ensure that the project focusses on its central aim, to characterize the nature of life and death for people in all of Ireland in the later Iron Age. The project will be collaborative in nature and will involve scholars across a wide range of disciplines who have been working on related aspects within Ireland and outside Ireland. An inter-disciplinary international conference is planned for late Spring of 2012 when leading scholars from the UK and Europe will be invited to present papers on related topics.

In keeping with our approach to collaboration the workshop groups had been designed to include not just archaeologists who specialised in the Iron Age and Early Medieval periods but also classicists, ancient historians, historians, linguists and palaeoenvironmentalists. Our scheduled date had unfortunately clashed with an awards ceremony but we were delighted that those who could not make it on the day asked to be kept informed of future events so that they can contribute later. Over 30 participants were divided into two workshop groups each taking two of the research themes for discussion: one covering materilities, identities and fluid frontiers and the other sacral and secular landscapes and language and literacy.

The eclectic mix of early career researchers and more experienced academics offered an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise and this resulted in a remarkable series of debates and discussions. What is noteworthy is that although participants in both groups came from a range of specialisms, backgrounds and expertise, they each identified similar issues that need to be addressed immediately and provided interesting suggestions on how these may be resolved. All of the suggestions and recommendations will be considered carefully by the project team over the coming weeks and we are very fortunate to have such interested and interesting individuals collaborating with us on the LIARI project.