An archaeologist is a person who studies the past by analysing the material remains left behind by human activity. 

An archaeological excavation involves the systematic removal of archaeological remains for analysis and interpretation by a suitably qualified archaeologist or team of archaeologists. This type of archaeological investigation is called preservation by record.  

The earliest phase of archaeology, which chronologically includes the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age, or that period of archaeology in Ireland, prior to the advent of Christianity.

People in the Mesolithic were nomadic hunter gatherers. They made weapons and tools from stone such as flint or chert. Some artefacts are distinctive of this period, such as microliths from the early part of the Mesolithic to the larger Bann Flakes in the later Mesolithic. The Mesolithic ranged from c.7000-4000BC.

The period of time when metal working was first introduced to Ireland. People began to use bronze to make weapons and tools. Gold working also appeared during this time, with objects such as gold torcs being produced. The Bronze Age ranged from c.2400-500BC.

This period of change saw the coming of St. Patrick and the introduction of Christianity into Ireland. Literacy was also introduced and some of our greatest works of art were produced, such as The Book of Kells and The Book of Durrow. It is sometimes referred to as the Golden Age and ranged from between c.5th

The Medieval period includes the arrival of the Anglo Normans in the 12th

These monuments are built of large stones used for ceremony and burials purposes. They are named from the Greek mega

A term now in common use, but originally defined by the Register of Monuments and Places to include circular and sub-circular earthen monuments relating to various chronological periods of archaeology. It is often used to denote the presence of a ringfort.

A circular space defined by a bank and often with an outer ditch with an entrance sometimes in the east. Within the interior, Early Medieval and Medieval farming communities lived and carried out their daily socio-economic activities. Ringforts are described as enclosed farmsteads and can be uni-vallate (one ditch and bank), bi-vallate (two ditches [..]