Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    A Neo-Assyrian Relief in the Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities, Trinity College Dublin: a case study in artefact acquisition
    (Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics and Literature, 2011-10-14)
    The focus of this paper is a neo-Assyrian relief discovered in the Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities at Trinity College Dublin (hereafter the Weingreen Museum). The shallow relief depicts a pictorial vignette of a kneeling genie, rendered in profile, facing a tree of life, on a horizon formed by a cuneiform border (WM 1189). Details surrounding the relief’s acquisition were completely unknown to Trinity College Dublin staff during 2008-9. This investigation follows a paper trail which illuminates the circumstances behind its procurement and subsequent journey from Iraq to Dublin in the Victorian period. The results establish the relief as the uncontested prize piece of the Weingreen Museum.
    Scopus© Citations 1  510
  • Publication
    The discovery of Phocaean Red Slip Ware (PRSW) Form 3 and Bii ware (LR1 amphorae) on sites in Ireland - an analysis within a broader framework
    (Royal Irish Academy, 2010-04-19)
    'Phocaean Red Slip Ware' and Bii amphorae sherds have been identifi ed, by the present author, at the site of Collierstown 1, Co. Meath. One of the advantages of discovering Phocaean Red Slip Ware Form 3 on sites in Ireland is that it is instantly datable—to the late fi fth and early sixth century AD—a valuable asset in an early medieval context; however, the main benefi t in identifying this ware in Ireland is that its manufacture can be accurately and exclusively attributed to a centre in Asia Minor (modern Turkey); a provenance that has major implications for long-distance connectivity in the early medieval period. Similarly, the Bii amphorae discovered in Ireland, manufactured in the wider Cyprio–Syrian catchment area, have never been published as a group before and the present study attempts to redress this in presenting sixteen fi nd-spots of Bii amphorae in Ireland; a marked increase on the two sites included in Thomas’ 1959 catalogue refl ective of Ireland’s recent intensive road building schemes. This paper addresses the complexity of the trade network between north-western Europe and the eastern Mediterranean (and, more locally, between Ireland, Britain and France) in the early medieval period, thereby presenting hypothetical intermeshing trading models.
      965Scopus© Citations 9
  • Publication
    Giuseppe Gerola's Strange Cretan Bagni
    (Università Di Catania. Centro Di Archeologia Cretese, 2014)
    In his seminal work I Monumenti Veneti Dell'Isola di Creta (parte IV Opere Idrauliche), Giuseppe Gerola supplied a two-page report on five structures he considered being possible bagni. La Rosa and Portale's more recent work on an Early Byzantine bath near the church of Aghios Pavlos, on the outskirts of the village of Aghios Ioannis, near Phaestos confirmed the existence of one of Gerola's bagni (which he had located  «presso la chiesa di S. Paulo a S. Giovanni Priotissa»), thereby lending credence and weight to Gerola's overall report. On the basis of these findings I decided to locate, and photograph, the remaining structures mentioned by Gerola and was granted kind permission to do so through the auspices of the 13th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, conducting fieldwork in June 2013. While all four sites (which have not been cited by any scholar since Gerola) were recorded in the field and are presented here, the compact Early Byzantine bath at Aghios Giorgios Koulourida at Phournopharango proved to be of particular importance with standing elevations surviving in the field to a height of 2m.
      248
  • Publication
    Survey and Excavations at Khirbat Kazūn 2004
    (Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 2005-01-01) ; ;
    Survey and excavations were conducted at the cemetery of Khirbat Kazun during April and May 2004. The work was an extension of the earlier rescue excavations conducted in 1996 ad 1997 (Politis 1998: 611-614) with the objective to identify the full extent of the site. The main aim of the season was to complete all field work and studies at the site and prepare for final publication. The project was sponsored by the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies and supported by the National Geographic Society and the British Academy in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.
      18
  • Publication
    The Roman Aqueduct of Knossos, a Model for Nineteenth-Century Aqueduct Design
    (Cambridge University Press, 2023-02-16) ;
    In this paper, we present findings from a field inspection of the Knossos aqueduct undertaken in 2019. A key contribution of our fieldwork was the architectural identification of the Roman channel underlying the nineteenth-century wall of the Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct supplying Iraklio. While reuse of the Roman aqueduct in the nineteenth century was known from historical reports, the structural overlap has never been identified in the field or documented archaeologically, until now. We recorded the Roman channel lined with opus signinum running along the base of the nineteenth-century aqueduct's wall between Fundana and Spilia. Through this realisation in the field, we were able to establish diagnostic styles of masonry for both periods. Our architectural distinction between the overlaid aqueducts allowed us to integrate previously disarticulated components of the later system, like the reused Roman tunnel at Skalani and the nineteenth-century bridge at Spilia, into an integrated Ottoman-Egyptian water supply for Iraklio. As we approached Knossos from Spilia, we were also able to identify the point at which the Venetian aqueduct supplying Iraklio converged with the Roman system. Consequently, our 2019 fieldwork not only mapped the length of the Roman aqueduct supplying the city of Knossos but also that section of the nineteenth-century Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct of Iraklio built directly over it and a shorter tract of the Venetian aqueduct of Iraklio that either ran alongside it or was, in turn, itself partially overlaid by the nineteenth-century system.
      7
  • Publication
    Survey and Excavations at Ghawr as-Safi 2004
    (Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 2005-01-01) ; ; ;
    Survey and excavations were conducted in teh Ghawe as-Safi during March and April 2004. The project was sponsored by the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies and supported by the Palestine Exploration Fund in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Additional support came from ARAMEX International Couriers. During the course of the season's work, the board of directors of the Jordan River Foundation accepted to officially sponsor the project's future activities.
      16
  • Publication
    Review: J. Knight 'South Wales, From the Romans to the Normans; Christianity, Literacy and Lordship' (2013) Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing
    (Royal Society of Antiquaries in Ireland, 2011)
    Jeremy Knight’s book is an impressive exercise in efficacious brevity tracing the challenging historic narrative of south Wales from the mid-third century A.D. through to the Anglo-Norman period. The sheer wealth of evidence presented and the impressive range of disciplines considered inform this wonderfully rich account of the region’s development. The study draws on material from the fields of archaeology (both artefact and landscape), history (availing of epigraphic and manuscript material) and the onomastic, toponymic and hagiographic traditions.
      119