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Environmental Sciences Research Institute
Rathlin Island
Order the Rathlin Island monograph at TSO
Investigators Wes Forsythe and Rosemary McConkey
Rathlin Island, strategically located on the main sea-routes between Ireland and Scotland from Prehistoric to modern times, has been the subject of a wide-ranging project undertaken by the CMA. Archaeological survey, followed by a programme of targeted excavation (in collaboration with QUB), has produced evidence of Prehistoric and Medieval settlement, as well as new information regarding the manufacture of porcellanite tools there during the Neolithic period.
Other aspects of the research include the kelp industry, fishing and agriculture, landing places and the numerous shipwrecks located around Rathlin’s notoriously dangerous waters. Relevant data from the recent JIBS survey has been examined. The results of the project, together with contributions from invited authors and previously unpublished work, has recently been published as a substantial monograph by TSO (funded by NIEA).
References
Forsythe, W. and McConkey, R. (2012) Rathlin Island: an archaeological survey of a maritime landscape. Northern Ireland Archaeological Monographs 8. TSO.
Forsythe, W. (2007) On the edge of improvement: Rathlin Island and the modern world. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 11 (3), 221-240.
Forsythe, W. and McConkey, R. (2008) At the crossroads: the historical archaeology of Rathlin Island. In: Scottish Odysseys: The Archaeology of Islands. (Eds: Noble, Gordon, Poller, Tessa, Raven, John and Verrill, Lucy), Tempus, pp. 132-149.