LECTURE PROPOSAL

WARP/SWAP/SAS CONFERENCE, EDINBURGH, 21-23 SEPT 2005

ALLUVIAL AND ESTURINE WETLAND ARCHAEOLOGY

Brendon Wilkins
Headland Archaeology Ltd.

This lecture presents the preliminary results of archaeological investigations carried out on
behalf of Waterford City Council as part of Contract 3 Archaeological Investigations prior to
construction of the N25 Waterford Bypass. The site was located on the eastern edge of an area
of deep Holocene sediments that accumulated in response to progressive rise in relative sea
level. The archaeological deposits were located in an area where these sediments were no
more than 2-3m deep, on a probable shelving terrace now covered by estuarine deposits.
They were grouped into three main phases of activity: later Mesolithic flint scatters on a dry
land surface predating the accumulation of organic peat deposits; later prehistoric toghers/
trackways and informal brushwood platforms accessing the main river channel from the
dryland margin; and later prehistoric fulacht fiadh on the eastern shore of the wetland area.
This lecture will discuss the methodologies employed in response to this archaeology whilst
working within a developer funded framework. It will set the interpretation of distinct
cultural events, like the construction of a trackway, alongside an understanding of the natural
changes in depositional record. It will also incorporate any available specialist results and
preliminary dating framework.