Early Medieval Dwellings and Settlements in Ireland, AD 400-1100: Vol. 1 Text.

Early medieval settlement archaeology utterly dominates the record of excavations in Ireland, including settlement enclosures, complexes, landscapes and ecclesiastical sites (O'Sullivan, McCormick, Kerr & Harney 2009). For this reason, the INSTAR-funded Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) focused its research in 2009-2010, on dwellings and settlements (having previously provided a review of all early medieval archaeological excavations in Ireland). In 2009, EMAP first prepared a gazetteer of what we would regard as Ireland’s key early medieval settlements and dwelling excavations, largely based on a detailed review of the original EMAP database, 1930-2004; amounting to a final gazetteer (see Vol II) of 241 early medieval settlements revealed through archaeological excavation, 1930-2009. The first draft of the Vol. II gazetteer was first completed in a five-month period between July and December 2009 (Kerr et. al 2009) and was edited and expanded in 2010. In 2010, EMAP built further on this achievement, to research and complete a vol. I interpretative text that would precede the Vol II gazetteer, thus providing a reflection and analysis of such themes as houses and buildings, the organisation of settlement enclosures, agricultural activity and crafts and industry. This two volume report, completed in December 2010, arguably represents the first compilation, analysis and discussion of early medieval settlement archaeology in Ireland, as revealed through excavations, 1930-2009.