Iron and Change in Europe Workshop 29/03/2010
 Map of Europe showing the countries involved in the workshop I returned yesterday evening from a workshop entitled Iron and Change in Europe. It was my first experience of a European funded, European-level project. The topic discussed: iron technology from the Iron Age to about 1000AD is a crucial one for archaeologists which is generally not given a lot of thought, even (ironically) by Iron Age specialists. We still don't in many cases know the answers to basic questions like who made iron and iron artefacts? Where, how, and why? The workshop may have been the start of a serious effort to answer these questions right across Europe. One brilliant element was a series of ten minute presentations, one for each country involved (I gave the Irish one, all of the presentations answered the same research questions, you can see them in my powerpoint below), which gave a quick overview of iron technology and its place in society all over Europe and in lots of different time periods. These were also fleshed out in corresponding 2000 word summaries collated in the workshop handbook. Getting my hands on that alone was worth the trip to London! Luckily for everyone else it will be made available online soon too. The rest of the workshop was mainly about discussing ways to answer these questions through new methodologies, sharing of expertise, more workshops, summer schools, studentships, exchanges etc. One other important theme discussed was the dissemination of information about iron to other archaeologists. This is very important at a basic level of collecting the right information which can then be used to answer all our outstanding questions (slag is all too often discarded as rubbish, much as flint debitage was until more recent and enlightened times). Hopefully the buzz from the workshop doesn't wear off now and the EU gives the convenors Peter Halkon and Vincent Serneels more money to kick-start iron research in Europe. AYIA Deadline Extended 21/01/2010
 The deadline for proposals for both papers and posters to be presented at the AYIA annual conference 2010 has been extended until the 25th of January. Anyone attending should also have a look at the new constitution being proposed for the conference which can be downloaded from the association's website.   TAT 2010 CFP launched 12/12/2009
 Last year myself, Emmett O'Keeffe and Terry O'Hagan launched and organised an international, inter-disciplinary conference focused on theoretical approaches to material culture (TAT 2009). Following on from the conference a number of delegates expressed an interest in continuing the conference in a different venue in 2010. A competition was run and the University of Michigan proposal was successful. An international committee has been set up alongside the local committee and I was delighted to receive the CFP (click the read more link to see it) for TAT 2010 last week. AYIA Conference Cork 2010 18/11/2009
 The CFP for the annual AYIA conference 2010 has just been announced by the organisers in Cork. My first conference presentation was at the AYIA conference in 2004 and I was one of the organisers of the 2007 conference, as well as an editor of the proceedings. Its highly recomended for anybody starting out on their research careers who wants to present in a professional but relaxed atmosphere. And its usually good craic as well! Art and Archaeology? 14/09/2009
I came across this on the Irish Art blog just now. I had been aware that there was an artist-in-residence at WAC-6 last year and wondered what would come out of it. And this tripartite piece of angular sculpture is it.  Photo via Irish Art Blog I'm not too sure what the relationship really is between Art and Archaeology although there must of course be some. Archaeology has a relationship with pretty much everything done by people but, considering its strong art-historical roots, art theory would seem obviously linked to archaeological theory. I am by no means qualified or interested enough to comment on such things but the UCD Scholarcast Series does have some interesting discussions including a great piece by Blaze O'Connor on the archaeological excavation of Francis Bacon's studio. As to the aesthetics of the sculpture, as with most of the art on the UCD campus I am ambivalent at best. Its not offensive in the slightest (though it might be if I knew how much it cost) but I'm not sure it inspires me or even gets a reaction which is how I personally judge a piece of art. There is an interesting video below of the installation of the sculpture with a commentary by the artist that may or may not leave the meaning of the piece clearer in your mind. Tatty T-Shirts 21/04/2009
 We have recently launched the TAT t-shirt shop here. Having been to many conferences where you could take away a little memory to wear on site, to the pub or wherever else you enjoy being gently derided for your geeky fashion sense, we thought it might be nice to do the same for TAT. TAT Programme Launched 15/04/2009
 The TAT programme has now been confirmed and launched. Preparations are well under way with the next phase being selection of chairs for the various sessions. New Review 15/04/2009
 My review of the 2009 World of Iron Conference, written in haste and at short notice has just appeared in HMS News: TAT 2009 - Register Now! 26/03/2009
 At the moment I am heavily involved, along with my colleagues Emmett O'Keeffe and Terry O'Hagan in the organisation of TAT 2009. TAT, or to give it its full title Thinking About Things: Interdisciplinary Futures in Material Culture, was a response by the three of us to a call for proposals for conference funding from the UCD Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies. All three of us being perennial volunteers and always looking for something to distract attention from actual PhD work, we were immediately on the look out for some ideas. | What?A site about Irish archaeology: conferences; links; opinions;news; information and the internet.      CategoriesAll ArchivesJuly 2010    
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