Interview: Phil Harding!

So, the flint knapping workshop went fabulously well - a great turnout and everyone enjoyed it. The night was a long one in the Scholar's Rest from what I hear, but Phil made it back safe to the airport very early the next morning! :)
Before it got too late, we asked him a few quick questions.....

How did your career start?
Digging at school. When I left school, I got a job in a puppet factory but I continued to dig during the holidays. That was Southampton in September 1971.

What would you say your defining moment was, career-wise?
Receiving my doctorate. I was awarded it and I never went to University!

Do you watch yourself on the T.V.? 
Yes, I watch each programme once. You want to see how your contribution fits. I don't watch the repeats.

Have you got any advice for our aspiring archaeologists? 
Work hard and never give up - at least, not until you have to. This was advice given to me before.

What are you currently working on?
Farndon Fields, just outside of Newark-on-Trent [Nottinghamshire, UK], a late paleolithic flint scatter which marks the place where someone knapped flint. It's pretty much unique. Obviously as a flint knapper to be able to see where a flint knapper from that time sat, it's as close as I can get to standing over his shoulder.

What's your favourite dinosaur?
T. Rex! This is as I dug one up in Hellcreek, Montana.

Archsoc would really like to thank Phil Harding for his workshop. It was a pleasure and an honour for us to meet him. We were glad to be able to give this opportunity to our members - thank you all for turning up to make our events so much fun!

Just a quickie!

We have had a very busy and VERY fun couple of weeks. Cumann Stáire have been our best buddies with our four-day 'Aiséirí' event (this was a fab week of medieval dress up and games as well as interesting workshops and talks. The yummy food was not to be forgotten, either!). We teamed up with them again for the successful Roaring 20's Speakeasy. A great night was had by all in Busker Brownes! There were a couple of misplaced flappers stumbling around Charcoal Grill afterwards, I'm sure :)
This is just a quick update with what's to come next: Phil Harding's flint knapping workshop, wooohooo!!! Hopefully we can squeeze in a little interview afterwards!
Marion Dowd is coming to chat about Moneen Cave too on Tuesday - fingers crossed for an interview there too! We will do our best. Stay tuned, bloggers :)

What we have been up to for this Equinox weekend!

So, it's Tuesday of Aiséirí week, our big special event on campus. Right about now, Claíomh (a reenactment group) are bravely fighting each other on the President's Lawn! We have had a very busy few days. Archsoc went on tour! :)

We started off the weekend at the Quad, where our fab bus driver Seán picked us up for our exciting trip! First was Trim Castle - that's Ireland's biggest and I must say it was really good fun. The tour was excellent, even if our legs were a bit wobbly up on the top :) We had a quick tour of the Ledgwick Museum (Francis Ledwidge, for those that don't know, was a WW1 poet from Slane in Co. Meath).
Slane Hill next and a tour from Conor Brady of DKIT - even our most experienced archaeologists learned something and for the newbies among us there were some great stories about St. Patrick (legend has it he lit a big fire there) and lots of more eh factual info (not that I don't believe in magic). Plus, the views were so beautiful and our visiting students had fun petting the cows in the field! These were almost as fun as the very vocal sheep that kept interrupting Lynda's tour of Dowth passage tomb!!

After all of this, I took an early night, unlike a few others who thoroughly enjoyed their stay in our hostel with the help of some beverages - you know how it is!

Sunday morning was the highlight of the trip - AUTUMN EQUINOX!!! After a hard climb up the hill at Loughcrew we just had to wait a few minutes before we could enter the passage. There was a really nice atmosphere which was so enjoyable even at 6.30 a.m. Some lovely bodhrán players were there as well as a tin whistler. Sometimes it all felt a little surreal. With children and dogs running around too it was great craic! Unfortunately, the sunlight wasn't quite right to illuminate the passageway (which usually then highlights all of the fabulous Neolithic art on the stones inside) but we had torches so we still got to see it anyway! Lynda was great then showing us all of the other satellite cairns in the immediate vicinity. In fact she was so great, we picked up a few additions to the along the way!! I was just there for the pretty pictures and the rocks! Haha :)
Fore Abbey after this was a delight, and so interesting as it was heavily defensive. I found that unusual. Donna Brady gave us a tour here, including the Seven Wonders of Fore (for example the water that will not boil from a nearby well. Of course it would be bad luck to test its reputation with a kettle!).
On the way home we got a tour from the OPW of Clonmacnoise which had a great audio-visual part along with displays and a physical guided tour around the environs. Again, a beautiful setting and we had lovely weather which was a nice treat!
Finally back to bed (or the pub for some) to rest ourselves for the big week! Monday morning was busy organising our medieval costumes, the marquee and our treasure hunt (Jordan & Katelyn won a pizza party in the College Bar. they were delighted!). Everyone looks great in their dresses and knight's outfits!

It has been a great week so far! I hope it continues and I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!
Siobhán :)

Introducing Thor McVeigh, our new auditor!

Who are you? I AM THOR. I am in the third year of my Ph. D. here in Galway. I am researching the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age period.

Why are you here? I am a lovechild. 

That explains it all. Whatever the reason, you're here and you're an archaeologist. What are your main aims as auditor this year?

I want to create awareness of the society. I am really hoping to improve our inter-society relationships and make our programme more diverse.

How are you going to get people interested this year? 

Ok, well we have a few different things, for a start. This year's schedule includes a more diverse lecture series featuring some scientific stuff like facial reconstruction, aDNA but also conflict archaeology, for example. We have some recognisable names like Time Team archaeologist Phil Harding. We've got international archaeologists John Bintliff, Stewart Ainsworth, and Mike Parker Pearson. One other thing we are changing is the types of events we are hosting - like a film night (Indiana Jones oh yeah), a 20's themed night, a toga party. We're joining up with other socs lots for this stuff too! Our international trip is likely to go to Czech Republic, which Archsoc hasn't done before.

Which event are you most excited about?

Ah, it's hard to pick out one thing! Phil Harding's flint-knapping demonstration is exciting. I'm hoping our more diverse programme will show people that we can have fun and be fun. Some have even said it's 'possibly the best [schedule] the society has had in memory.'

Speaking of Time Team, who is your fav?

Well, I do love Phil Harding's hat, but I will miss the late Mick Aston and his stripey jumpers.

I think anyone who watched the show could agree he will be missed. The hats and jumpers are fab; what makes archaeology so sexy, tell me?The girls tell me it's Conor Newman the silver fox & Eugene (our PRO). Personally, I'd say Bettany Hughes. (Ed: for anyone who doesn't know, she's television's hot historian.)

And that's why you want to be auditor, to liaise with all of these sexy people? 

Yes... but I am aware that there is a need for the society to be run by undergrads again. Our committee has recruited a few UG students and I have lots of ideas that are more relevant to undergrads so I hope that the society can become stronger with my help and input over the coming year.

Now for the big question, what is your favourite dinosaur?

Triceratops.

Me too! I think that's the end of that, time for a pint I think! Thanks, Thor.

For more info on Archsoc, you can check our Facebook page, Twitter or Socs page on the SU website. Alternatively look for us in the College Bar. It's really near the Socsbox so it counts as working, right?

https://www.facebook.com/ArchSocNUI
https://twitter.com/ArchSocNUIG