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Posts from the ‘Diggingthedirt Live’ Category

Archaeologists Anonymous

When I first got the email inviting me to talk at the Maidstone AA Group, I thought it must be an aggressive new technique designed to shock high functioning alcoholics out of denial.  But ‘AA’ actually stands for ‘Archaeological Area’, and reading further I realized that the Maidstone Group were recruiting speakers for their meeting – held monthly at the Kent Police College. Read more

Presentation of Heritage Research Awards

Nominated for a heritage award and scooped second place for my lecture – Recently reported road deaths on the N6: 3500 BC to 1500 AD – a synthesis of work undertaken on various cemetery sites as part of the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme. Chris Yates of the Southwest Maritime Archaeology Group took the top honours, speaking on ‘Bronze Age Trade in Copper – Evidence from a Maritime Environment’, and Chantel Summerfield won the under thirties category with ‘The archaeology of soldier’s identity in the twentieth century, uncovered through a comparison of arborglyphs’.

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A face for radio…

And finally… Archaeology!

Broadcast on RTE Radio 1, Tuesday 27th October. I’m sandwiched somewhere between the serious history stuff (the 1941 German bombings of the North Strand in Dublin) and the competition fluff (True or false – is Cheryl Cole a member of girls aloud?). Read more

Archaeology Gigs #1

Like radio four, meals on wheels, incontinence pants and a flair for shuffling, archaeology is something people only ‘get’ once they grow old. Look around at an average week night archaeology talk, and most of the crowd look like they were dug up in Spitalfields in ’96.

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The British Museum

Lights dimmed, introductions over. The biggest audience of my fledgling career – and I stood on stage as if balanced on a dangerous precipice. Above: clear blue skies soared to impossible heights. Below: perilous waters dashed against the rocks. I shuffled towards the edge and bit down hard. This was the Champions League. This was the Bernabeu. This was the British Museum. And I was Layton Orient. Read more