UCD School of Archaeology

I am currently Associate Professor of Archaeology and former Head of the UCD School of Archaeology (2004-2008).    I have also served as Chair of the BA Programme Board (2005-2007) and Director of the UCD International Summer School (1999-2002).  I currently serve on the Academic Council Executive Committee (ACEC), the Academic Council Committee on Quality (ACCQ)  and the University Undergraduate Programme Board (UUPB), and I chair the Oversight Committee of the Humanities Institute. 

Research
Prehistoric art and ritual form the specialisation on which my international reputation is built and I have published extensively in this area, dealing with some of the more iconic complexes of prehistoric Ireland, notably the great passage tombs in the Boyne Valley and on the Loughcrew hills.  I am particularly associated with a more isolated site at Knockroe in county Kilkenny.  Other major interests include Irish archaeology in modern society and the state of the national archaeological resource.

My papers on various aspects of Neolithic art and riitual are to be found in journals, conference proceedings and thematic volumes published in Ireland, Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States of America.

I am author of The Mound of the Hostages (Wordwell 2005), academic editor of Eoin Grogan's  Tara (Wordwell 2008) and editor of the upcoming collection Tara - From the Past to the Future (Submitted to publisher early July 2012; expected publication date: late 2012/early 2013).  The monograph on my research excavations at Knockroe passage tomb, county Kilkenny, is currently being finalised (expected publication date: mid-2013).  The Mound of the Hostages volume  forms the basis of the exhibition Idir Bheatha is Bás - The Story of an Excavation, opened at the National Museum of Ireland in 2007 and still running today.  The upcoming volume Tara - From the Past to the Future is the product of a symposium held at UCD in October 2009.

I was the lead author of the seminal Heritage Council report Archaeological Features at Risk (2000) and one of three co-authors of Archaeology 2020: Repositioning Irish Archaeology in the Knowledge Society (2006).  I am also joint author, with Liam Downey, of the 'Know Your Monument' series in the quarterly journal Archaeology Ireland, contributing four articles per annum since 2003.  The series was conceived originally for the benefit of the general public but has become an important source of reference for archaeological colleagues.

I currently serve on the Expert Committee advising the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the ongoing Review of Policy and Practice in Irish Archaeology.  I also serve on a committee advising on the day-to-day management of the Hill of Tara.  I am a committee member of the Agric-History Society of Ireland and I have previously served three four-year terms on the council of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, including four years as joint honorary general secretary.  I have also served on the committee of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne and the St. Audoen's Heritage Foundation.

As well as directing five seasons of archaeological excavations at Knockroe passage tomb in county Kilkenny and participating in the Knowth field programme over several seasons, I have directed the rescue excavaitons at Ballyvanran ringfort, county Tipperary (1990-1991) and the pre-development excavations of an extensive first millennium AD complex at Haynestown, county Louth (1993).

After graduating from UCD with a BA in Archaeology and History of Art (1978), I studied for the Higher Diploma in Education in NUI Maynooth (awarded 1979) before returning to UCD for graduate studies in Archaeology.  For my MA (awarded 1981) I wrote a thesis on The Megalithic Art at Knowth 1.  My PhD thesis was entitled Irish Megalithic Art in Context (1988), and I have published extensively on this topic over the years.