The death of an elephant, Dublin, 1681
I stumbled across a curious 17th century account of an elephant in Dublin city recently. Yes, you read right, an elephant. This exotic import was owned by a Mr Wilkins who kept it in a specially constructed ‘booth’ near the Custom House on Parliament Street/Essex Street. Here members of the…
May 14, 2012
Early photos of Ireland’s iconic heritage sites
This fantastic collection of old photographs documents some of Ireland’s most iconic archaeological and heritage sites. The photographs date from between 1890 and 1900 and are from the Library of Congress Collections. 1. Glendalough, Co. Wicklow: Founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century AD, this was one of Ireland’s…
Monte Testaccio: a mountain of Roman amphorae
At first glance Monte Testaccio seems just like any other overgrown hill on the outskirts of Rome. However, it is anything but ordinary. This amazing site is actually made up entirely out of Roman amphorae, specifically olive jars. It is truly enormous, with a circumference of nearly a kilometre at…
The sweat house at Creevaghbaun, Co. Galway
I recently visited a small but distinctive archaeological site at Creevaghbaun, Co. Galway. It consists of diminutive well-built structure that is known locally as a ‘teach allais’ or sweat house (teach allais being the Irish for sweat house). The building is clearly visible from the nearby Tuam to Barnaderg road…
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The death of an elephant, Dublin, 1681
I stumbled across a curious 17th century account of an elephant in Dublin city recently. Yes, you read right, an elephant. This exotic import was owned by a Mr Wilkins who kept it in a specially constructed ‘booth’ near the Custom House on Parliament Street/Essex Street. Here members of the…
Early photos of Ireland’s iconic heritage sites
This fantastic collection of old photographs documents some of Ireland’s most iconic archaeological and heritage sites. The photographs date from between 1890 and 1900 and are from the Library of Congress Collections. 1. Glendalough, Co. Wicklow: Founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century AD, this was one of Ireland’s…
Monte Testaccio: a mountain of Roman amphorae
At first glance Monte Testaccio seems just like any other overgrown hill on the outskirts of Rome. However, it is anything but ordinary. This amazing site is actually made up entirely out of Roman amphorae, specifically olive jars. It is truly enormous, with a circumference of nearly a kilometre at…
The sweat house at Creevaghbaun, Co. Galway
I recently visited a small but distinctive archaeological site at Creevaghbaun, Co. Galway. It consists of diminutive well-built structure that is known locally as a ‘teach allais’ or sweat house (teach allais being the Irish for sweat house). The building is clearly visible from the nearby Tuam to Barnaderg road…
Facing the past. An anthropomorphic Bronze Age pot from Cork
An exceptional collection of Bronze Age artefacts was recently found near Mitchelstown in County Cork (Kiely & Sutton 2007). They included a ceramic spoon and three pottery vessels, two of which had distinctly anthropomorphic features. These remarkable finds were recovered from a small pit during an archaeological excavation carried…
Dublin’s lost buildings: The Dutch Billy
Strolling through some of Dublin streets at the begining of the 18th century, an English visitor to the city would have been met by a streetscape more remincent of Amsterdam than London. The streets would have been full of large, redbrick, gabled-fronted houses, familiar to anyone who has ever…
