Heritage Audit of the River Nore Phase 1
A Heritage Audit of the River Nore Heritage Phase 1 was commissioned by the Heritage Office of Kilkenny County Council in 2009. It comprised the survey and mapping of all, the built, natural and cultural heritage of the river from Ballynalsee (Laois-Kilkenny border) to Ossory Bridge, south of Kilkenny City.
Information was gathered through a combination of data research, field surveys (including a survey by canoe) and consultation with local communities. The project was funded and supported by Kilkenny Local Authorities and the Heritage Council with support from the Heritage Forum.
Reports are now available online here: http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Publications/Council_News/Heritage_Audit_of_the_River_Nore_.23994.shortcut.html
Internship at KKAP available via JobBridge
Applications are invited through JobBridge for a nine month internshp at KKAP. The successful candidate will be working as an archaeological researcher with the project and will in particular focus on undertaking post excavation work on the publication of a series of major excavations from the city. Training will be given in a range of post excavation analyses, digital illustration and GIS mapping techniques. Fieldwork training will also be provided. See jobbridge.ie (search for archaeological researcher) for further details and applications may be made by emailing your cv to coilin@kilkennyarchaeology.ie
KKAP night course 2012
C. O Drisceoil of the Kilkenny Archaeological Project will be tutoring a night course on ‘Life and Death in Medieval Kilkenny’ at NUI Maynooth’s Kilkenny Campus. Time: Thursdays 7-9pm Feb 23rd - March 29th 2011. Please contact kilkenny.campus@nuim.ie for further details.
New evidence for pre Anglo-Norman bone and antler working at Saint Canice’s cathedral
New insights into the economy and topography of the early medieval monastery of Cill Chainnigh has been revealed by excavations at the Robing Room, near the Bishop’s Palace. The excavations were carried out by Kilkenny Archaeology on behalf of the Heritage Council as part of the conservation works for the eighteenth century Robing Room. The excavation found evidence for the levelled embankment that surrounded the inner sacred space where the round tower stands. This bank covered a pit that was filled with waste from a bone and antler workshop. One of the antler tines was radiocarbon dated to the period 1000-1140 ca. AD. Antler tines have been foundon three other occasions around the cathedral close but this is the first time they have been dated. The date confirms the industry is related to the pre Anglo-Norman period when the cathedral was the chief church in Ossory and a major power centre. The high status of the site has also been confirmed by Nikolah Gilligan’s analysis of the charred plant remains from the pit. One of the most interesting of Nikolah’s findings was a single grape pip. This appears to be the earliest evidence yet found in Ireland for grape and raises many interesting questions. Were grapes grown in early medieval Kilkenny? Or was this an import? Whatever the answer it underlines the status of the monastic site in the eleventh-twelfth centuries and also the fact Kilkenny was the height of sophistication long before the rest of the country! The botanical report can be downloaded here: http://www.kkap.ie/assets/bishops-palace-plant-remains.pdf
And the preliminary report on the excavation here: http://www.kkap.ie/assets/11e157-robing-room-preliminary-archaeological-report-september-2011.pdf
ipmag 2011
Irish Post Medieval Archaeology Group’s 2011 conference is taking place the first weekend of February and includes a paper by C. O Drisceoil: Rothe House, Kilkenny and the archaeology of early modern urban gardens. Further info here.
