Alumnus, Department of Archaeology
About
My research is focused on investigation of religious practices and belief systems in the Neolithic period. I have recently been involved in two Royal Irish Academy funded projects at the Carrowkeel–Keashcorran complex in northwest Ireland. The first of these has been to discover previously unrecorded passage tomb art and has resulted in the successful location of the first examples of megalithic art at Carrowkeel. The second has been a pilot radiocarbon dating project to gain more information on the chronology of the complex. Discoveries resulting from these projects and related research are due to be published in the only major paper to deal with the Carrowkeel-Keashcorran complex since the R. A. S. Macalister led excavations in 1911.
Another project I have co-directed has been to clarify the chronology of the Carrowmore passage tomb complex, Co. Sligo through dating 25 cremated bone and antler pin fragments. This project, which now at publication stage, has proven to be an important corrective to previous interpretations of the chronology of Carrowmore. Additionally, I am co-organising an international conference entitled ‘Into the earth: the archaeology of darkness’, the proceedings of which are due to be published as a monograph in due course.
My research interests include:
• Neolithic beliefs and ritual practices in northwest Europe
• Religion and Archaeology
• Megalithic art
• Archaeological theory
