Hill of Tara

This hill was the royal seat for the high king of Ireland, which meant that you were the ultimate king. Although before the time of the high kings this site was considered sacred has visible activity dating back to 3000BC. Its increase in importance began in the Iron Age and continued into the Early Christian period. This site has great importance to Christians because in 433 St. Patrick lit the paschal fire in the nearby Hill of Slane that is 16km away but you can see clearly from Hill of Tara. This fire was in defiance to the High King Laoghaire (pronounced Leera) and the pagan druid ritual. They couldn't put the fire out so after some fight with magic and in the end were defeated. Eventually the King and his followers converted to Christianity. Only one of the Kings followers paid homage to Patrick and he is known as St. Erc, he founded a monastery on Hill of Slane.

From any direction on Hill of Tara you can see 1/3 of Ireland.

Royal Enclosure: Mound of Hostages

From on top of the hill

This is a stone that 5000 years old and which sadly was recently vandalized. It's the Stone of Destiny and according to legend it would roar if the rightful ruler of Ireland touched it.

A statue of St. Patrick 

A view of the hill of Slane, if you can see that structure pointing towards the sky in the center that is where it is.

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Glendalough

Pronounced Glen-da-lock, written in Irish as Gleann dá Loch meaning the Glen of 2 lakes. Situated in Wicklow county among the Wicklow mountains. It is absolutely beautiful and serene if you walk the mountain paths and stay away from the popular trails. To arrive there I took a bus called the St. Kevin's bus service and it costs 20 euros to go, the bus picks up at 1130 daily in front of the Mansion House in Dublin. Since you have to buy your ticket on the bus and it isn't available for purchase online, you MUST ARRIVE 30 mins EARLY. This is important because once the bus fills up then there isn't another one until the next day. 

If you aren't aware St.Kevin founded a monastery in this location in the 500's. He was known for his closeness to nature with his companions being animals when he was a hermit. Overtime people would visit and it became a spot for a monastery.

The Round Tower

The Monastic Area

Mountain hiking

Upper Lake

Reefert's Church

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St.Kevin's Cell

View from St. Kevin's Cell

St. Kevin

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Exciting News!

I am excited to announce that I have been reassigned to Cutting 3 which means I get to excavate a burial now. The burial is a man who is  a little taller than me, and he might have been from the friary's heyday and was buried within the church. This could mean that he was of wealth, he also has a perfect set of teeth with lack of decay but one of the molars has wear.

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Giants Causeway

According to legend the causeway was built by a giant named Finn and he built the causeway so he could fight the Scottish giant called Benandonner. But when Finn realized his opponent was much bigger than he his wife magicked him into a baby which frightened Benandonner since he was such a large baby. Thus he fled back to Scotland . Although in reality it is a result of a volcanic eruption millions of years ago.

The stones!

                          Obligatory causeway picture. Can you see Scotland? Where his opponent is from.

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Humphrey!

The tour bus we used. For 60 euros we took a day trip to Belfast, Carrick-a-rede and Giants Causeway. A little pricey but it was a good enough deal since it would have been more expensive had we decided to rent a car.

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Updates

So as I have said we had an archaeology conference for 2 days which was fascinating.

July 4th came around and most of us thought we weren't going to be doing anything but since we have been such loyal patrons to a local pub they decided to throw us an American barbeque. They absolutely outdid themselves. The food was wonderful and I didn't find myself missing the U.S.

The pub (Marcie's) as viewed from the St. John's priory. Across the River Boyne.

Today we got to entertain the CTY from John Hopkins U. They decided to try their hand at archaeology but they were in the cuttings where there is not too much damage to be done (ie no burials or mortar.)

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Archaeology Conference

For the past two days I have been at a conference with some Anthropologists and listened to interesting lectures about their work. It was in town and we were given a choice of whether or not we wanted to attend. Many of the students attended instead of working in the field. I took a lot of notes but now I need to sort through them.

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Carrick-a-Rede

A rope bridge in Northern Island that connects to a small island called Carrickarede from the mainland. It is a long walk but it was worth it for the photos. There is another small island nearby where the economy relies on sheep farms and you can smell it. The Irish love their sheep. I have been hoping to find a wool coat or item from here but they don't come cheap.  

A plateau before the rope bridge.

SCOTLAND! It was a decent day so we could see the shore to Scotland.

An island where  most of the population is sheep farmers.

The rope bridge; only 8 people are allowed on it at a time and it's one way per 8.

Close up!

From the bridge

Postcard anyone? 'Wish you were here'

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