Eachtra Journal

ISSN 2009-2237

A deluge of EMAP data in December 2009

December, 2009 · Written by: John Tierney Print This Page This entry is part 18 of 30 in the Issue 04

After only 5 months of work in 2009 the EMAP project has published updates on their project, a bibliographic database, presented 7 public lectures, and, amongst other things, prepared a publication for submission to the RIA. Pdfs can be found at their website www.emap.ie. An initial trawl through the bibliography shows it is very comprehensive and all involved deserve great credit. Next time maybe, the team will publish the bibliography in some citable format, presumably they are already in a Latex or Bibtex format. Data shared in data formats is more powerful than flat text.

Here is the text of an email sent out by Dr Aidan O’Sullivan, one of the project’s principal investigators.

Early Medieval Archaeology Project (INSTAR EMAP) has launched its major reports on early medieval Ireland at www.emap.ie.

EMAP’s 2009 (and 2008) full research reports are now available to download at emap.ie.

The Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) is funded by the Heritage Council’s Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) programme. The EMAP Project Progress Report 2009 (listing the project’s public lectures, PhD and MA research, publications and other activities in 2009) is now available to download. All the below research reports, bibliographies and database lists are now also available to download – creating a major resource for all interested in this fascinating period in Ireland’s past.

· Early Medieval Ireland: Archaeological Excavations 1930-2004. EMAP Principal Investigators edited and re-wrote to publication standard the text of a book, which will be published by the RIA in Autumn 2010. This will be the first academic synthesis of early medieval archaeology in Ireland in 20 years. The original 2008 report – now greatly improved for the book - can be downloaded by clicking on the report title above.

· Early Medieval dwellings and settlements in Ireland, AD 400-1100: Vol. 2 A Gazetteer of Site Descriptions version 1. In 2009, EMAP completed a comprehensive first draft of a gazetteer of 228 early medieval settlements. Each gazetteer entry provides details on site name, location, director and license, a concise site description, all known radiocarbon dates and a full bibliography – a significant new resource for all scholars interested in past settlement and landscape. This PDF has a live contents page (click on site names) and is searchable by county, site name or by hundreds of archaeological feature – for example type the word ‘house’ into the find tool and click return. In 2010, EMAP will progress to write a monograph on early medieval dwellings and settlements in Ireland, in their European context.

· A Bibliography of Early Medieval Archaeology in Ireland: Version 2. This is an update of EMAP’s previous bibliography. It now has 5,000 bibliographical references, organized thematically from settlement, to economy, to human osteology. The PDF is searchable – for example, put ‘Ryan, M.’ in find tool and click return for 2 pages of early medieval metalwork references or ‘Lynn, C.’ for dozens of papers on early medieval settlements. In 2010, this bibliography will be available as an online searchable database.

· A Database of Early Medieval Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 1930-2004. This is EMAP’s 2008 database of 2,208 early medieval excavated sites. In 2010, this will be made available as an online searchable database on the EMAP web portal.

INSTAR EMAP is an North/South, inter-institutional, university/professional archaeological sector collaborative research project, with Principal Investigators in Dr. Aidan O’Sullivan (UCD School of Archaeology) and Dr Finbar McCormick (Queens University Belfast) and project partners in CRDS, Archer Heritage Planning, ACS and Margaret Gowen & Co. EMAP aims to carry out innovative research on early medieval Ireland and provide reports, publications and online searchable bibliographies and databases to support all associated research in Ireland and beyond.

We would like to thank all our colleagues in Irish archaeology. In the preparation of the major EMAP Site Gazetteer of Early Medieval Dwellings and Settlements we sought permission from all site directors to read their unpublished reports. Without exception, all site directors and companies contacted gave permissions and their full and enthusiastic support to the project – all this at a time of great difficulty in professional Irish archaeology. We would like to warmly acknowledge the professionalism, dedication and commitment of archaeologists in Ireland to the understanding and public appreciation of Ireland’s cultural heritage.

The project’s aims, team details, PhD and MA graduate students research activities; online reports and other resources can be downloaded at the project’s Early Medieval Archaeology Research Portal at www.emap.ie For further details about EMAP, please see www.emap.ie or contact

Dr. Aidan O’Sullivan,
UCD School of Archaeology,
College of Arts and Celtic Studies,
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4
Aidan.OSullivan@ucd.ie

Issue Navigation«Previous entry | Next entry»