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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Great Craic!

           The title of this post means ‘Great Fun’. It is already week 3 and I find myself using Irish terminology and using some similar pronunciation. The accent although is easy enough to seemingly pick up because I never realized how similar it is to some of the pronunciation of certain words in Bahamian English. In Irish Gaelic the ‘h’ does not exist so many words that have the ‘th’ sound; those ‘h’s are not pronounced. Instead of ‘three’ ‘tree’ is said. So I am slowly reverting from my American English to my original Bahamian English.

           Many of my roommates and I have been going to the pubs a bit and we have introduced beer pong to some of the locals. Which many have heard of in passing but never played it, they found it enjoyable. The one thing I love about pubs and bars here is that the idea is to not get drunk but to socialize. Many locals leave for the pubs around 8 and leave at midnight, now we have begun to follow that pattern.

          Since we don’t have cars here we have been walking and utilizing the bus system on weekend trips.   I have found since we walk everywhere and are doing manual labour at the site we are gaining muscle and losing fat. I have not lost weight per se but I have gained a lot of muscle which I am happier about. I am very happy that I decided to spend my summer excavating because I have found what I want to do for the rest of my life. We are not allowed to disclose our exact findings on social media but I can say we have found some amazing and shocking things. I am sure I have said this before but it is amazing how I am helping to bring history out from below the ground. That I have a hand in the past, present and future; the past because I am taking out of the ground and the future because future generations will know about these findings and understand the history of humanity and their ancestors.

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Battle of the Boyne site

Fought in 1690 by 2 claimants to the Scottish, Irish and English thrones. King James who was a Catholic and King William who was a Protestant and King James's son-in law and nephew. (Talk about bad blood) Despite the two fighting for their places on the throne it was ultimately a turning point that would keep Ireland a predominately protestant country for years after. King William had won which ensured the Protestants having a higher place in society. Catholic Irish had their lands and titles stripped away and in the decades that followed they would be sent as slaves to the Caribbean. 

Actual site of the battle

Sassy mannequin, these  paintings and mannequins within the tour were very expressive.

 "Is that mahogany?" he pondered as he stood there looking at an empty table.

Muskets that were used!

A cannon from the time period.

Phrases that are still used nowadays.

More weapons!

A very fancy saddle; I assume was used by the French King or by the French aided English King James. There was no sign but the styling of the saddle appears French.

The grounds located behind the house where the Battle took place.

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