The Islands of the Cyclops in Sicily. Sea stacks interpreted as boulders thrown by Polyphemus at Odysseus and early eruptions in the formation of Mt. Etna

Roman amphitheatre in Catania, Sicily, partly under the more recent buildings but you can still walk around underground

Happy St Patrick's Day from Discovery Programme! While completing a Coastal Zone Assessment of Doorin Point we found the 1603 map names the headland as St Patrick's Point. This magnificent promontory fort on the Point likely predates the name, & its monumental banks & ditches can still be seen today

Happy St Brigid's Day! St Brigid is one of the 3 Patron saints of Ireland & is venerated across the world

This week we found streets & sisters named after her in Spain, where we're collaborating with EU partners on the AGREE Project, exploring maritime heritage in Spain, Portugal, France & Ireland

We are in Huelva, Spain for the initial meeting of the AGREE Project. This EU-funded project will run until 2028 and see the Discovery Programme working with partners in Spain, Portugal and France to explore maritime heritage

Spot the archaeologists! This week we've been onsite in Co. Donegal doing UAV survey at sites around St John's Point, funded by an @aerialarchaeology.bsky.social grant.

Here is a cleared shore, traditionally known as the landing place for the medieval Killaghtee church
@edwardpollard.bsky.social

Thank you everyone who joined our #HeritageWeek Coastal Archaeology walk this weekend despite the wet weather! We had a great time exchanging knowledge about this stretch of coast

This was grant-aided by @ria.ie, funded by @nationalmons.bsky.social. @heritagecouncil.ie @edwardpollard.bsky.social

Hut site and cairns in the eroding sand dunes on the Doorin Point survey. @cormacduffy.bsky.social @ria.ie @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social This project is grant aided by #RIAgrants funded by @nationalmons.bsky.social

Eroding shell middens recorded surveying around Doorin Point, Donegal. @cormacduffy.bsky.social @ria.ie @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social This project is grant aided by #RIAgrants funded by @nationalmons.bsky.social

Erosion cut through a stream making a new waterfall with the original now dry valley on the townland boundary seen further south. Doorin Point in Donegal @cormacduffy.bsky.social This project is grant aided by #RIAgrants funded by @nationalmons.bsky.social @ria.ie @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social

Traces of a cart track running along the intertidal zone was recorded on the Doorin Point survey, Donegal @cormacduffy.bsky.social This project is grant aided by #Riagrants @ria.ie funded by @nationalmons.bsky.social @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social

Checking out the erratics used as land marks, place names, fossils and rock formations on the foreshore around Doorin Point promontory fort in Donegal @cormacduffy.bsky.social #Riagrants @ria.ie @nationalmons.bsky.social @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social

Good start finding submerged forests and old landing places. Looking forward to going around the promontory fort on Doorin Point when continue in a couple of weeks #RIAgrants @ria.ie @nationalmons.bsky.social

Tour of Illaunobrick Iron Age Promontory Fort YouTube video by The Discovery Programme

For those who caught the @rteone.rte.ie coverage of our work on eroding archaeology on the Copper Coast & would like to know more, check out this tour of Illaunobrick Promontory Fort from our Maritime Archaeologist Dr @edwardpollard.bsky.social:
youtu.be/34KhLwKwTHc?...

@heritagecouncil.ie

Whilst in Co. Galway last week, @edwardpollard.bsky.social & @hannahboyd.bsky.social undertook Coastal Zone Assessment on the Maree Peninsula. We walked the coastline, identifying & recording features relating to the maritime heritage of an area
@heritagecouncil.ie @nationalmons.bsky.social

Climate impact on archaeology now on RTÉ Radio 1 🚨

This week, Discovery Programme staff Susan, Ted and Hannah are onsite at Dr Michelle Comber’s excavations at Rathgurreen, Co. Galway, part of the Maree Project.
The team are looking forward to a week of digging, despite yesterday's rain!
@heritagecouncil.ie @uniofgalway.bsky.social

IHTA Seminar 2025 Session I Urban perspectives: from source to sea I YouTube video by Royal Irish Academy

My talk on Clonmines from last week is available now in the first session of the Irish historic town atlas seminar www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWGr... @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social

Pleased for having opportunity to talk on the ruins of Clonmines in Co. Wexford yesterday at the Royal Irish Academy seminar on Water, towns and topography. Glad to be able to discuss silting, erosion and traversing the estuary #CHERISHlegacy @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social @heritagecouncil.ie‬‬

An Incipit (opening letter) with two birds from the St. Gallen manuscript Priscian Institutiones Grammaticae, Cod. Sang 904, p. 25. © Stiftsbibliothek St Gallen.

In the mid-9th century, amidst fierce Viking raids, scribes in northeast Ireland copied a Latin textbook written in 6th-century Constantinople, this manuscript, is key to understanding the Irish language of the time. #NMIBlog #MuseumBlog #CuratorBlog #Archaeology
www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collec...

Happy St Patrick’s Day from the Discovery Programme!
St Patrick’s Bridge in Co. Wexford is a submerged causeway leading to the Saltee Islands. The area was studied in the CHERISH Project due to coastal erosion #CHERISHlegacy
@nationalmons.bsky.social @heritagecouncil.ie @drtobydriver.bsky.social

Enjoying a song in the house of Mrs. Mary O’Donnell, Baile Thiar, Inis Oírr, Árainn, Co. na Gaillimhe, 1966. © National Museum of Ireland.

‘Songs of the Sea’, what are they?
Do you have knowledge of a song, in either Irish or English, that is related to life along Ireland’s Atlantic coast? If you do and you would like to share your story, we would love to hear from you. #MaritimeHistory www.ouririshheritage.org/content/arch...

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💘 Holed stones in the landscape are prehistoric in origin, but over time became associated with oath-taking, used by lovers for making promises or getting engaged. We found these holed stones during CHERISH project fieldwork, perhaps used for this purpose #cherishlegacy

Glad to talk on Rosslare Fort today in Belfast at the Irish Post Medieval Archaeology Group conference. It is the 100th anniversary of the abandonment of Rosslare Fort in Wexford this year after the storm on Christmas Eve 1924 turned it into an island #CHERISHlegacy @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social

Weekend in Edinburgh for the rugby and return via Cramond Island world war defences repurposed for social commentary through graffiti

Happy St Brigid’s Day!
The cult of St Brigid travelled beyond Ireland, including to Wales. In the CHERISH project we collaborated with colleagues in Wales researching sites at risk from climate change, including the lime kiln at St Brides Haven #CHERISHlegacy #RCAHMW @aberuni.bsky.social

Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, where Robert the Bruce was born, looks to be built on a promontory fort with ditch landward, landing places either side, lighthouse and view of Ailsa Craig

Climate Change, Coastal Heritage Digitization, and Local Community Engagement at the Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani World Heritage Site, Tanzania Kilwa Kisiwani is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the coast of Tanzania. Monuments such as the Great Mosque and Husuni Kubwa, along with shipwrecks, ceramics, and beads, testify to the growth of Sw...

Our new article is out on climate change at the Swahili World Heritage Site of Kilwa in Tanzania and ideas to record and involve the local community www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....