Eileen Reilly

University College Dublin | UCD · School of Archaeology

River valleys have been a focus for human activity since the early Holocene and, in addition to providing abundant archaeological evidence for this human activity, the proximity to water also highlights the potential for the preservation of archaeological remains and palaeoenvironmental source material. However, human activity within the areas of r...

Chronological precision is a pre-requisite for all palaeoecological analyses, especially in more recent Holocene deposits such as small hollow peat and mor humus in woodlands. Here, tephrochronology was employed to improve the chronological control of such deposits to aid subsequent sub-fossil insect analyses from three sites in western and south-w...

From 1962 to 1981, the National Museum of Ireland carried out a series of excavations in Dublin that revealed the Viking Age and medieval core of the city. Collectively these are the most significant urban excavations of this period in Western Europe as the sheer number and preservation quality of houses and plots revealed is unparalleled elsewhere...

Recent excavations along the Jordaenskaai, in the medieval burg area in central Antwerp, have provided a unique opportunity to explore the archaeology, economy, and environmental context of early medieval Antwerp. This multidisciplinary project examined structures and features that are radiocarbon dated to 760-970 CE in order to gain a better under...

Since the BBC documentary Filthy Cities opened with a revolting picture of medieval London, the long held popular notion of medieval towns as unorganized, cluttered and filthy has seriously taken root in the collectively memory. The notion stems from a traditional focus on studying normative texts and scatological trope. Sifting through discarded d...

These guidelines are designed for use by archaeologists managing and undertaking archaeological excavations funded by the National Roads Authority. Their purpose is to ensure that a standardised approach is adopted to for palaeo-environmental sampling, analysis and reporting. The guidelines are intended to be used in the context of the Department o...

Excavations in the grounds of St Patrick's Church, Edinburgh were undertaken by Headland Archaeology from November 2006 to February 2007 on behalf of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in advance of the construction of a hotel on the site. Soil analyses suggested that flash floods had swept through this part of Cowgate up until the early d...

Parks of Garden, a Neolithic site in southern Scotland, is located within a thin wedge of peat which abuts a ridge of glacial moraine that stretches across the Upper Forth river valley. The site comprises a rapidly constructed small wooden platform dating to 3340-2920 cal BC, within the Early Neolithic period of Scotland. The platform may have func...