Heritage Week 2019: Public lecture on food in ancient Ireland

In Ireland, we have just started celebrating Heritage Week 2019. Heritage Week in Ireland is coordinated by the Heritage Council and is a part of European Heritage Days -- an initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union. The main aim of European Heritage Days are to promote awareness of our built natural and cultural heritage, and to promote Europe's common cultural heritage. We celebrate for a whole week in Ireland, with more than 2000 events organised throughout the country.

This year, I will present a public lecture on my research into food in ancient Ireland. This is the keynote event hosted by TII for Heritage Week 2019, and the event will take place at the National Museum of Ireland. TII (Transport Infrastucture Ireland) is the largest procurer of archaeological services in Ireland, and they have overseen the excavation of hundreds of archaeological sites from which ancient food remains have been recovered. The event is free, but booking is required.

I will start by exploring how we investigate food in archaeology. Then, drawing upon my work at the UCD Bloom garden this summer, I will examine case studies from four periods, based largely upon evidence from TII excavations: early settlers (Mesolithic), first farmers (Neolithic), medieval traders (medieval) and industrial society (post-medieval). Check out the Bloom garden website for more information on the case studies. If you are interested in reading even more, I have published widely on ancient food, so check out my publications.

As well as the public lecture, there will be an associated pop-up exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland, displaying the TII site reconstruction drawings that we featured at the UCD Bloom Garden, as well as replica artefacts relating to ancient food production. More information here.