Research
All archaeological investigation can be described as a form of research; however, in addition to the compliance-led archaeological works on national road and light rail schemes.
Legacy Funded Project: The Ballyhanna Research Project was established in 2006 in partnership with Donegal County Council, Queen's University Belfast, and the Institute of Technology, Sligo. Through the application of a suite of scientific analyses, this project aims to learn as much as possible about the population of one of the largest medieval Gaelic cemeteries ever excavated in Ireland, which was discovered at Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal, on the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon Bypass. A new book—The Science of a Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard—showcasing the fruits of this research was published in December 2015.
Research Assistance
TII regularly facilitates researchers by making excavation reports, images, and other data (e.g. LiDAR) available. Please contact Michael Stanley (Michael.Stanley@tii.ie).
Ballyhanna Research Project
In late 2003, an archaeological excavation near Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, Ireland, uncovered a significant medieval cemetery with over 1,000 burials and the remnants of Ballyhanna Church. This discovery, made during road construction work, led to the establishment of the Ballyhanna Research Project in 2006, a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and the Institute of Technology, Sligo (ITS), funded by the National Roads Authority.
The research focuses on osteological, palaeopathological, and paleodietary analysis of the skeletal remains to study the health, lifestyle, and diets of the medieval population. Key figures include Dr. Eileen Murphy and Catriona McKenzie from QUB, who analyzed adult and child skeletons, and researchers like Tasneem Bashir and Sheila Tierney from ITS, who examined the paleodiet and attempted to extract ancient DNA, respectively.
The findings were summarized in the 2015 publication The Science of a Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard, offering a comprehensive view of life during this period based on the Ballyhanna burials. Additional papers from seminars provide further insights into the project’s results.
Learn More- MacDonagh, M 2006 'Ballyhanna Research Project', Seanda, No. 1, 60–2.
- Murphy, E & Donnelly, C 2006 ‘The Ballyhanna Research Project at Queen’s University, Belfast’, Seanda, No. 1, 63.
- McGowan, T 2006 ‘Multi-element analysis of human bone’, Seanda, No. 1, 64.
- Bird, J 2006 ‘Amplification of ancient DNA and sex determination in human medieval skeletal assemblages’, Seanda, No. 1, 65.
- Leamy, G 2006 ‘Showcasing the finds’, Seanda, No. 1, 66.
- Leamy, G 2007 ‘A forgotten site: Ballyhanna Church and Graveyard’, Seanda, No. 2, 8.
- MacDonagh, M 2008 ‘The Ballyhanna Research Project: an introduction’, in J O’Sullivan & M Stanley (eds), Roads, Rediscovery and Research, 127–31. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 5. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- McKenzie, C 2008 ‘An overview of the palaeopathological analyses of the medieval human remains from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal’, in J O’Sullivan & M Stanley (eds), Roads, Rediscovery and Research, 133–42. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 5. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- McCarthy, R 2008 ‘Preliminary osteoarchaeological analysis of the disarticulated human skeletal material from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal’, in J O’Sullivan & M Stanley (eds), Roads, Rediscovery and Research, 143–8. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 5. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- Tierney, S 2008 ‘Amplification of ancient DNA and determination of sex in medieval human skeletal material from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal’, in J O’Sullivan & M Stanley (eds), Roads, Rediscovery and Research, 149–54. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 5. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- Bashir, T & McGowan, T 2008 ‘Multi-elemental analysis of human bone from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal’, in J O’Sullivan & M Stanley (eds), Roads, Rediscovery and Research, 155–61. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 5. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- McCarthy, D, McKenzie, C, Murphy, E, Bashir, T & Tierney, S 2009 ‘Ballyhanna Research Project 2009 update’, Seanda, No. 4, 22–7.
- McKenzie, C & Murphy, E 2011 ‘Health in medieval Ireland: the evidence from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal’, in S Conran, E Danaher & M Stanley (eds), Past Times, Changing Fortunes, 131–43. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 8. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
Fellowship Programme - Understanding Environmental and Landscape Change in the Midlands of Ireland Through the Cultural Use of Woodland
Legacy NRA Fellowship: In 2008 the NRA awarded funding from its Fellowship Programme to a PhD research project entitled Understanding Environmental and Landscape Change in the Midlands of Ireland Through the Cultural Use of Woodland. This research was conducted by wood specialist and archaeologist Ellen O’Carroll of the Botany Department, Trinity College, Dublin, and combined palaeoecologically techniques and archaeological data (including information derived from excavations conducted on national road schemes) in order to quantify woodland use and its impact in the Irish midlands since the Mesolithic period (c. 8000–4000 BC).
A paper describing the aims and methods of the project was presented at the 2009 NRA National Archaeology Seminar and this paper, offering preliminary research results, was published in the subsequent seminar proceedings in autumn 2010. Ellen was awarded her PhD in summer 2012 and presented some of her findings at the 2012 Seminar. This paper, co-authored with Professor Fraser Mitchell, was published in the seminar proceedings in autumn 2013. Further papers will emanate from Ellen's research and news of these will be posted here as they are appear in print or online.
In addition to these publications, the research findings also fed into the compilation of Paleoenvironmental Sampling Guidelines for use on national road schemes (first published in 2015 and now in its fifth edition) .
- OCarroll, E 2010 'Ancient woodland use in the midlands: understanding environmental and landscape change through archaeological and palaeoecological techniques', in M Stanley, E Danaher & J Eogan (eds), Creative Minds: production, manufacturing and invention in ancient Ireland, 47–56. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 7. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- OCarroll, E & Mitchell, F J G 2013 'Seeing the woods for the trees: unravelling woodland resource usage in the Irish midlands over the last five millenia', in B Kelly, N Roycroft & M Stanley (eds), Futures and Pasts: archaeological science on Irish road schemes, 111–20. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 10. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- OCarroll, E & Mitchell, F J G 2015 'Seeing the woods for the trees: the history of woodlands and wood use revealed from archaeological excavations in the Irish Midlands', Irish Forestry, Vol. 72, 205–26.
- OCarroll, E & Mitchell, F J G (forthcoming) ‘Quantifying woodland resource usage and selection from Neolithic to post Medieval times in the Irish Midlands’, Environmental Archaeology, The Journal of Human Palaeoecology.
Fellowship Programme - Archaeogeophysical Survey
Legacy NRA Fellowship: The use of archaeogeophysics on road schemes between 2001 and 2010 has been reviewed as part of a second archaeological research project funded through the Fellowship Programme. Archaeogeophysical Survey consists of a range of methods for exploring below the ground surface by means of remote sensing. This study, awarded funding in 2010, was carried out by James Bonsall, Dr Chris Gaffney and Professor Ian Armit from the University of Bradford in the UK. Irish company Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics acted as the university’s industrial partner in the research.
Archaeological geophysicist James Bonsall was selected as a finalist to present his research at the prestigious Transport Research Arena 2012 conference and was awarded the silver medal in the environmental pillar for his presentation. James gave a preliminary review of progress in Issue 6 of Seanda magazine (published in December 2011) and presented a paper at the 2012 NRA National Archaeology Seminar. This paper, co-authored with Dr Chris Gaffney and Professor Ian Armit, was published in the subsequent seminar proceedings in autumn 2013. One of the key deliverables of the research project was an online database from which NRA-commissioned geophysical reports could be viewed. The NRA Archaeological Geophysical Survey Database was launched in April 2013 and an article about this important online resource was published in Issue 8 of Seanda. The research also delivered a set of guidelines (published in May 2014) entitled Preparing for the Future: a re-appraisal of archae-geophysical surveying on Irish National Road Schemes 2001-2010.
- Bonsall, J 2011 'Ten years of archaeogeophysics', Seanda, No. 6, 38–9.
- Bonsall, J, Gaffney, C & Armitt, I 2013 'Back and forth: paving the way forward by assessing 10 years of geophysical surveys on Irish road schemes', in B Kelly, N Roycroft & M Stanley (eds), Futures and Pasts: archaeological science on Irish road schemes, 1–13. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series No. 10. National Roads Authority, Dublin.
- Bonsall, J, Gaffney, C & Armitt, I 2014 Preparing for the Future: a re-appraisal of archae-geophysical surveying on Irish National Road Schemes 2001-2010. Report by the Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences, University of Bradford.
- Bonsall, J, Sparrow, T, Gaffney, C, Armit, I & Swan, R 2013 'Underground, overground', Seanda, No. 8, 14–15.
INSTAR Projects
The INSTAR Programme is an archaeological research fund administered by the Heritage Council that supports thematic research and facilitates collaboration between archaeological consultancies, academic institutions, international academic and research bodies and State bodies. TII is currently an industry partner in the Settlement and Landscape in Later Prehistoric Ireland—Seeing Beyond the Site INSTAR project and, as the NRA, was also a partner in the Cultivating societies: assessing the evidence for agriculture in Neolithic Ireland and The People of Prehistoric Ireland projects.
The NRA contributed to a number of other INSTAR projects by facilitating access to excavation reports and other unpublished data derived from archaeological investigations on national road schemes. These projects included:
- An integrated, comprehensive GIS model of landscape evolution & land use history in the River Boyne Valley
- Early Medieval Archaeology Project
- Making Christian Landscapes
- Mapping Death: boundaries and territories in Ireland, 1st to 8th centuries AD