It was the calm after the storm today on the dig, following the frenzy of our RTÉ visit yesterday. We all settled down to serious work, completing context sheets and taking final photographs. The find of the day went to Mick Mongey who found a spout of a ceramic vessel that may have been used …
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Day 17 – John Creedon and the RTÉ roadshow
There was a frenzy of activity around the site this morning, getting everything ship-shape for the arrival of the legend that is John Creedon and his RTÉ television crew. John was in Beamore to interview John McCullen for an upcoming TV series and to see what we were up to on the excavation. Work continued in …
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Day 16 – Its the final countdown!
The last week of an excavation always brings a sense of urgency to a site. At Beamore, we are on target with the cuttings almost completely excavated and so recording and survey is becoming the priority. Matt recorded the section face and pit in Cutting K. We know think that this pit is prehistoric and is …
Day 15 – The p[l]ot thickens
Today , the farm buildings of the south range are emerging out of all the cuttings west of the tower. This range would have incorporated the kilnhouse/bakehouse. I thought I should share this remarkable fourteenth century (1381) description of a grange similar to Beaubec. There was monastery run by the Augustinians in nearby Duleek, just …
Day 14 – Medieval Bake-off
The day began on site with a lively discussion about bread ovens versus kilns. There was support for and against the ‘kiln’ in cutting A/D/F being a bread oven instead of a corn-drying kiln. Aidan, meanwhile, was wet sieving the medieval ditch deposits and recovered a wonderful piece of medieval window glass, which the site …
Day 13 – “Well” done
There was a surprise in Cutting J when a curving setting of large stones, excavated by Muireann, turned out to be a well. This was cut into the fill of the moat. John found a beautiful painted floor tile inside this well. The tower team have been clearing the late fill and coming down on …
Day 12 – Prehistoric Beamore!
Stephen, who worked with us at Bective Abbey and Newgrange, came to work for the day with Billy in cutting F. He single-handedly pushed the settlement history of Beaubec back to prehistory when he found a finely crafted leaf-shaped arrowhead and thumb-scraper. Before the finds trays had even been distributed around the site this morning, the tower …
DAY 11 – It’s official, we have a latrine tower
Craig’s team moved back into the tower this morning and immediately uncovered the lower half of a very fine round-bottomed medieval pot. All day long, rich deposits from their cutting were being water-sieved and examined for finds by Keeva and Brona of DCU. They filled a complete tray with small bones, fruit stones (sloe and plum), oyster, …
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Day 10 – Dreams will come true.
In the afternoon at the tower Craig, Alex and Lennon came down upon a deposit very different from the loose brick and clay that filled most of the tower. This deposit was rich in charcoal, animal bone, medieval pottery and a large piece of worked timber. This is the medieval occupation deposit we were hoping for …
Day 9 – Literally “full of beans”!
Penny our environmental archaeologist informed us we had our first medieval bean, coming from the kiln flue. Years ago, Matt’s medieval economic history lecturer made one joke: “Medieval people were literally full of beans”. And so it turns out, because we now know that medieval people in Beaubec were literally full of beans. In cutting …
Beaubec Excavations 