EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Introduction
(commonly referred to as the Valetta Convention) attempted to place the
archaeological resource of European Union member states under the protection of
tighter planning legislation. This legislation was adopted and implemented by the
Republic of Ireland (1997) and the United Kingdom (2000), and has had a massive
impact on archaeological excavations in the island of Ireland. The greatest impact of
the Valletta Convention on archaeology in Ireland has undoubtedly been the
legislative incorporation of archaeology into the planning and pre-planning process.
In Northern Ireland this is currently covered by PPS16 (Planning Policy Statement
16), and in the Republic of Ireland, by the various Planning Acts and National
Monuments Acts, (1930-2004). The adoption of the Valletta Convention coincided
with a massive upsurge in urban development and rural infrastructural construction
in the Republic of Ireland, as the economy entered a phase of transformation (the
‘Celtic Tiger’). New requirements of the planning process necessitated an increasing
number of excavations as part of the mitigation of archaeological disturbance, the
vast majority of which was undertaken by commercial companies. By the early-
2000s, archaeology in the Republic of Ireland had been utterly transformed from a
largely academic or state-run profession, into a thriving commercial enterprise or
professional industry; and archaeological practice had undergone a similar
metamorphosis. The implications of the Valletta Convention have been less dramatic
in Northern Ireland. This was partly because Northern Ireland did not fully benefit
from the economic expansion of the ‘Celtic Tiger’, and also because the ‘Troubles’
(and their immediate aftermath) were serious brakes on internal investment and
development. Increased redevelopment, and the implementation of PPS16, however,
meant that there was a slight surge in archaeological excavations in Northern Ireland
in the early-2000s.
The end result of these legislative changes, and the subsequent expansion in
archaeological investigations, has led to a substantial increase in the number of sites
excavated since the mid-1990s. The large-scale excavations on certain projects -
especially road schemes and gas pipelines - have also investigated wider aspects of
contemporary landscape archaeology than would normally have been encountered
during a site-specific research excavation. The full implications of the data collected
from these excavations have not yet been fully realised or synthesised, and it is our
hope that this volume will assist in that process.
In conclusion, this Gazetteer of Early Medieval Settlements is already a substantial
and very valuable research report and has been a significant update and ambitious
expansion of the existing EMAP research on early medieval excavations in Ireland. It
itself, it could be regarded as a significant research resource – such a task has never
been attempted for early medieval Ireland before (and equally for other periods with
less archaeological evidence or data). It has now been prepared to advanced draft
standard for submission to INSTAR in December 2009, but it is envisaged that with
further funding this gazetteer can be edited and brought to publication standard by
December 2010. Finally, this Gazetteer of Early Medieval Settlements should be
regarded as the first step in a major research programme. In 2010, we hope that if
funding can be secured, EMAP will progress with the writing of a major work of
synthesis of the archaeology of early medieval settlement in Ireland - a 2 vol.
publication (text and gazetteer) work that discusses the physical character, social
organisation and chronology of settlement and dwelling practices in Ireland, in their
wider European contexts. We hope that such a work could be regarded as key
contribution by EMAP to our understanding of early medieval society in Ireland and
beyond.
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