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on the net Eoin Bairéad reports on internet news items, discussions and websites of interest. I’ve mentioned Michael Fortune and his folklore collections before. I’ve found another: his Traveller Collection has a huge array of Traveller lore and knowledge—their traditional halting sites, their pilgrimage sites (and local historians throughout the island speak of their devotion to sacred wells and holy trees) and their music, particularly uilleann piping. The National Museum is also compiling an archive of Mincéirí, Pavees, Irish Travellers, An Lucht Siúil—there are many names for Ireland’s only indigenous ethnic minority. Jonny Geber and Eileen Murphy have a fascinating article in Academia describing tooth decay amongst the poor in the 19th century. You might imagine that, with little sugar and few ‘modern’ processed foods, their risk of bad teeth would be low, but the mixture of potato starch and milk lactose in a nineteenth-century Irish labourer’s diet would have lowered oral acidic (pH) values, thereby increasing the risk of bacterial fermentation in dental plaque and resulting in caries. I seriously questioned a report of an Ogham Stone being found in Coventry, of all places, so I checked. Ogham stone (Birmingham Museums Trust). The consensus amongst Irish palaeontologists is that it is indeed ogham, and from the fourth century AD. The first part of the inscription News from the Net 75 Maldumcail/S/Lass refers to a person’s name, Mael Dumcail, while the rest of the text, S/Lass, may refer to a location. RT É have a good piece on it, including an interview with the finder. Now two DNA stories, one of which I feel to be non-contentious; for the other, ‘we’ll see’. First, the Journal of Archaeological Science reports on an isotope analysis studying the diet and mobility of the first Swiss alpine agropastoral societies to see whether there were dietary differences between people depending on their status and place of origin. It found that 20% of adults came from different geological regions and that this did not have any impact on access to food and other resources. Second, an article by Joscha Gretzinger, Felicitas Schmitt, Angela Mötsch and others in Nature found evidence for dynastic succession among ‘Early Celtic’ élites in Central Europe. This ‘EC’ means middle to late Iron Age (and some centuries after) in the area known as ‘WestHallstattkreis’, and the authors examined genomic and isotope data from 31 individuals in three élite burials as far as 100km apart. Their modelling points to an avuncular relationship between two individuals, which may suggest a practice of matrilineal dynastic succession in early Celtic élites, and indicating that their ancestry is shared on a broad geographic scale from Iberia throughout Central-Eastern Europe. Matrilineal importance might lead to a reappraisal of the well-known “la Dame de Vix”, buried in Châtillon-surSeine in north-eastern Burgundy with her famous krater. St Doulagh’s is a lovely medieval church in north County Dublin on the Malahide Road. Parts of the church date from the eleventh century, although the church may have been enclosed by a series of ditches, one of which was dated to the ninth century. Resurrecting Monuments, a local community archaeology group based in Baldoyle, have made a fine 3D tour of the building. Check the little blue dots for points of particular interest. Matterport, who make the video, also have an excellent presentation on Lanestown or Lanistown Castle in Newbridge Demesne, also in Fingal. Now more lidar, and, again, from Wicklow. A feature unknown until such analysis was carried out is a cursus complex near Baltinglass. Clusters of these monuments have been found in several parts of Britain but have so far not been recorded in Ireland, where only isolated or pairs of monuments are known. However, a recent lidar survey has now identified a cluster of up to five cursus monuments in Wicklow, and it’s written up in the journal Antiquity. Wicklow Borough Corporation minutebook (Comhairle Contae Chill Mhantáin). And more of the Garden County. Wicklow town became a borough by royal charter in 1613. The minute-book of Wicklow Borough Corporation 1662– 1707 has been scanned and it opens a door into the world of the town as it developed in the seventeenth century, detailing the proceedings of the meetings of the town burgesses. While the volume is written in English, the style of handwriting, known as Secretary Hand, is one that very few people can now read. You will see underneath the digitised files of the minute-book that a transcription of the text into ‘standard’ orthography has been provided. And if yez want to read the original in Secretary Hand, here’s the link to learn! 12 Autumn 2024
page 13
The Dublin Port Archive covers the history of the port from 1707, and it’s brilliant. It gives a unique insight into how the port shaped Dublin city. The archive is composed of 75,000 photographs, 30,000 engineering drawings, 600 historical registers, yearbooks dating back to 1926 and a ‘Name Book’ for employees from 1906 to 1925. Its map collection is particularly impressive. Dublin Port Archive (Comhlacht Chalafort Bhaile Átha Cliath). Gabriel Cooney and his colleagues have a wonderful essay on the making of porphyritic andesite axeheads in the Early Neolithic at the Eagle’s Nest site on Lambay Island. One area of the site has produced evidence for quarrying from the 38th or 37th century BC, supplying secure confirmation that axe production was integral to the material world in Ireland from the beginnings of this period. The article is available here: Full article: A special source: making porphyritic andesite axeheads at the Eagle’s Nest, Lambay, Ireland in the Early Neolithic (tandfonline.com). Text shown in blue refers to web addresses (or URLs, as they are called), and you can access all of them on my site at www.ebairead.ie/ news-from-thenet-75.html. If you would like an email notification when the site is updated, send a message to Eoin@EBairead.ie. NEVER, ever, ever click on a link that comes to you in an email or on your smart phone looking for credit card details. Never! Not even once! A note from Hy Brasil HY BRASIL I love festivals—who doesn’t? Communities gathering to celebrate the quirky, the serious, the silly. On a recent visit to Sweden, friends took me to a local agricultural festival called Leve Svensk Färskpotatis (the Day of the Potato). And what a day it was! Cauldrons of boiling potatoes of multiple varieties, ladled out into little cups and served with lashings of butter or soured cream, all wolfed down by an admiring public. The Swedes clearly share the Irish respect for the humble spud. While in Sweden, I talked with many students and colleagues, and our conversations often revolved not only around food (and coffee—lots of coffee!) but also around ethics and archaeological practice. How do we not only improve the discipline but also atone for past archaeological sins? So much simply has to do with respect: respect for people and communities in the present, who deserve a say in how we approach, interpret and determine the future of sites in their landscapes, in their back gardens. And, of course, respect for past people and especially for their mortal remains. The American Anthropological Association recently completed a multi-year Commission on the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains. Travelling around the globe, commissioners talked with indigenous peoples, descendants of the enslaved and other affected communities, recognising that the roots of anthropological practice lie in settler colonialism. Their conclusions, published in May, will rightly affect how scholars and curators handle human remains in the future, including here in Ireland. I welcome those changes because they foreground human dignity. The scientific detachment (often accompanied by prurient fascination) that has allowed for the display of human remains—whether in a museum exhibit, an open church crypt or piled up in transparent boxes in an open archaeological lab—will become a thing of the past. I remain inspired by the collective action taken by Inishbofin islanders to force the return of the thirteen skulls stolen from St Colman’s Abbey by the British anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon in 1890. I witnessed at first hand their return and interment in July 2023, and revisited the carefully tended grave this past summer. On the other side of the Atlantic, I work alongside others in facilitating tribal requests for information on and repatriation of the stolen bones of their ancestors. Changes to the Native American Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) will finally allow communities who do not enjoy Federal recognition to also exercise a claim to their dead, while another recent piece of legislation protects African American burial-grounds. In Sápmi, Sami communities fight for the same rights. In 2021 the Swedish government established a Truth Commission to investigate historical injustices. Commissioners are listening to and reporting on Sami concerns as a first step towards restorative justice. Speaking with one of the commissioners, it was clear that this work is harrowing but very necessary. I feel incredibly fortunate to be connected to such ethically committed scholars— especially when they also share a love of the potato! Audrey Horning Autumn 2024 13

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on the net

Eoin Bairéad reports on internet news items, discussions and websites of interest.

I’ve mentioned Michael Fortune and his folklore collections before. I’ve found another: his Traveller Collection has a huge array of Traveller lore and knowledge—their traditional halting sites, their pilgrimage sites (and local historians throughout the island speak of their devotion to sacred wells and holy trees) and their music, particularly uilleann piping. The National Museum is also compiling an archive of Mincéirí, Pavees, Irish Travellers, An Lucht Siúil—there are many names for Ireland’s only indigenous ethnic minority.

Jonny Geber and Eileen Murphy have a fascinating article in Academia describing tooth decay amongst the poor in the 19th century. You might imagine that, with little sugar and few ‘modern’ processed foods, their risk of bad teeth would be low, but the mixture of potato starch and milk lactose in a nineteenth-century Irish labourer’s diet would have lowered oral acidic (pH) values, thereby increasing the risk of bacterial fermentation in dental plaque and resulting in caries.

I seriously questioned a report of an Ogham Stone being found in Coventry, of all places, so I checked.

Ogham stone (Birmingham Museums Trust).

The consensus amongst Irish palaeontologists is that it is indeed ogham, and from the fourth century AD. The first part of the inscription

News from the Net 75

Maldumcail/S/Lass refers to a person’s name, Mael Dumcail, while the rest of the text, S/Lass, may refer to a location. RT É have a good piece on it, including an interview with the finder.

Now two DNA stories, one of which I feel to be non-contentious; for the other, ‘we’ll see’. First, the Journal of Archaeological Science reports on an isotope analysis studying the diet and mobility of the first Swiss alpine agropastoral societies to see whether there were dietary differences between people depending on their status and place of origin. It found that 20% of adults came from different geological regions and that this did not have any impact on access to food and other resources.

Second, an article by Joscha Gretzinger, Felicitas Schmitt, Angela Mötsch and others in Nature found evidence for dynastic succession among ‘Early Celtic’ élites in Central Europe. This ‘EC’ means middle to late Iron Age (and some centuries after) in the area known as ‘WestHallstattkreis’, and the authors examined genomic and isotope data from 31 individuals in three élite burials as far as 100km apart. Their modelling points to an avuncular relationship between two individuals, which may suggest a practice of matrilineal dynastic succession in early Celtic élites, and indicating that their ancestry is shared on a broad geographic scale from Iberia throughout Central-Eastern Europe. Matrilineal importance might lead to a reappraisal of the well-known “la Dame de Vix”, buried in Châtillon-surSeine in north-eastern Burgundy with her famous krater.

St Doulagh’s is a lovely medieval church in north County Dublin on the Malahide Road. Parts of the church date from the eleventh century, although the church may have been enclosed by a series of ditches, one of which was dated to the ninth century. Resurrecting Monuments, a local community archaeology group based in Baldoyle, have made a fine 3D tour of the building. Check the little blue dots for points of particular interest. Matterport, who make the video, also have an excellent presentation on Lanestown or Lanistown Castle in Newbridge Demesne, also in Fingal.

Now more lidar, and, again, from Wicklow. A feature unknown until such analysis was carried out is a cursus complex near Baltinglass. Clusters of these monuments have been found in several parts of Britain but have so far not been recorded in Ireland, where only isolated or pairs of monuments are known. However, a recent lidar survey has now identified a cluster of up to five cursus monuments in Wicklow, and it’s written up in the journal Antiquity.

Wicklow Borough Corporation minutebook (Comhairle Contae Chill Mhantáin).

And more of the Garden County. Wicklow town became a borough by royal charter in 1613. The minute-book of Wicklow Borough Corporation 1662– 1707 has been scanned and it opens a door into the world of the town as it developed in the seventeenth century, detailing the proceedings of the meetings of the town burgesses. While the volume is written in English, the style of handwriting, known as Secretary Hand, is one that very few people can now read. You will see underneath the digitised files of the minute-book that a transcription of the text into ‘standard’ orthography has been provided. And if yez want to read the original in Secretary Hand, here’s the link to learn!

12

Autumn 2024

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