TII to feature at major European archaeology conference

TII is looking forward to this year's European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) conference to be held in Belfast from the 30th August to 2nd September, marking the 29th annual meeting of the EAA. It will be a great opportunity to see and learn about amazing archaeology from around Ireland, Europe, and the world, with over 3,000 delegates expected in Belfast this week.

TII and its many partners in the profession will be well represented at the conference, with TII archaeologists co-organising sessions and presenting/co-presenting papers.

The Megaproject and Historic Environments: a sustainable road map to mega legacy session, which is being co-organised by TII, will explore the relationship between archaeology and megaprojects, drawing on experience from across Europe and South America.  At this session Rónán Swan, TII Head of Archaeology and Heritage, will deliver a paper reflecting on TII’s experience, while Bryn Coldrick, Senior Archaeologist with Archaeological Management Solutions, will be presenting a paper on the forthcoming TII Cultural Heritage Guidelines. 

Mary Deevy, TII Senior Archaeologist, is co-organising a panel discussion on ‘There is more that unites us, than divides us’, which examines strategic and collaborative approaches to managing and delivering archaeology. TII Archaeologist Martin Jones will be presenting a paper on the innovative approaches adopted for the excavation and post-excavation analysis of a medieval settlement excavated at Ranelagh on the N61 Coolteige scheme in County Roscommon. TII Archaeologist Paul O’Keeffe has co-authored a paper on the archaeo-geophysical survey currently taking place on the N/M20 scheme. Susan Curran, Project Archaeologist with the Discovery Programme, will be delivering a paper on TII’s machine-learning project for the automatic detection of archaeological features using lidar data.

These and some of the other papers featuring the results of TII projects are listed below.

Thursday, 31st August

08:30 STORYBUILDING THROUGH TRADITIONAL AND INNOVATIVE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES: EXCAVATIONS AT RANELAGH, CO. ROSCOMMON, IRELAND Jones, Martin (Transport Infrastructure Ireland)

09:45 TII ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE: REFLECTING ON TWENTY YEARS OF IMPACT AND LESSONS FOR FUTURE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS, Swan, Rónán (Transport Infrastructure Ireland)

11:00 TII TII CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS, Coldrick, Bryn (Archaeological Management Solutions)

11:00 AT HOME IN ROSCOMMON: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE RURAL HOUSEHOLD IN THE WEST OF IRELAND c.1700–1980 Campbell, Eve (Archaeological Management Solutions)

11:15 MULTI-PROXY APPROACH OF CATTLE SECONDARY PRODUCTS EXPLOITATION IN NEOLITHIC IRELAND: INTRA-TOOTH SEQUENTIAL ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS (C, O, SR) AND ZOOARCHAEOLOGY Pigiere, Fabienne (University College Dublin, School of Archaeology; Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London) - Balasse, Marie (UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques, environnements, CNRS/MNHN) - Snoeck, Christophe (Analytical, Environmental & Geo-Chemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB; G-Time Laboratory, Université Libre de Bruxelles, ULB; Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Dept. of Art Sciences & Archaeology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, MARILW-VUB) - James, Hannah (Analytical, Environmental & Geo-Chemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB; Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Dept. of Art Sciences & Archaeology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, MARI-LW-VUB) - Fiorillo, Denis (UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques, environnements, CNRS/MNHN) - Smyth, Jessica (University College Dublin, School of Archaeology)

14:00 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND BIG DATA: DEVELOPING A MACHINE LEARNING MODEL FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE FEATURES Curran, Susan (The Discovery Programme; Institute of Archaeologists, The Discovery Programme) - Kokalj, Žiga (ZRC SAZU) - Kocev, Dragi (Bias Variance Labs) - Čož, Nejc (ZRC SAZU) - Dimitrovski, Ivica - Kostovska, Ana (Bias Variance Labs) - Davis, Stephen (University College Dublin) - Corns, Anthony - O’Keeffe, John - Shaw, Robert (The Discovery Programme)

14:15 BALLAGHCULLIA: A MIDDLE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT AND CREMATION CEMETERY IN CO. ROSCOMMON, IRELAND Walsh, Patrick - Ó Maoldúin, Ros (Archaeological Management Solutions)

17:30 PUNISHMENT IN THE IRON AGE? A CASE STUDY FROM NORTHWEST IRELAND Tobin, Maeve - McIlreavy, David (IAC Archaeology) - Montgomery, Janet - Moore, Joanna (Durham University)

Friday, 1st September

11:00 THERE IS MORE THAT UNITES US, THAN DIVIDES US. TAKING STRATEGIC, COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES TO MANAGING AND DELIVERING ARCHAEOLOGY [Panel Discussion]

Jones, Cara - Geary, Kate (Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)- Enlander, Rebecca (Historic Environment Division | Department for Communities) - Deevy, Mary (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) - Taloni, Maria (Ministry of Culture)

17:15 DEVELOPER FUNDED ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION AND THE QUESTION OF PROSPECTING FOR LANDSCAPES: LESSONS FROM THE NM20 CORK TO LIMERICK PROJECT Armstrong, Kayt (AOC Archaeology Group) - O’Keeffe, Paul (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) - Lawton, James - Cavers, Graeme - Sykes, Chris - Ovenden, Susan (AOC Archaeology Group)

Saturday, 2nd September

15:00 ON THE CUSP OF CONVERSION: IRON AGE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL METALWORKING FROM NORTH ROSCOMMON, IRELAND Ó Maoldúin, Ros (Archaeological Management Solutions) - Rondelez, Paul (Independent) - Campbell, Eve (Archaeological Management Solutions)