Ruth Carden 🦴In early summer 2022, we followed in RJ Ussher's footsteps in Castlepook cave, Co. Cork and started our first season of a research archaeological excavation at the cave.
We had/have an amazing team of people we are working with on this project - we are working in conjunction with the Cork Speological Group who volunteer their time with us, to make the cave safe for our brilliant cave archaeologists to work in & are on hand.
To give an idea of conditions inside Castlepook cave where our cave archaeologists had to work, and the assists at very tricky/difficult points provided by the Cork Speological Group which we are extremely grateful for, see the photos... our cave archaeologists were very brave!
Our analysis on samples obtained from our first season is ongoing. Pleistocene and Holocene animal species' bones were found and identified - spot the Arctic lemming tooth in the cave sieved sediment sample - (Hint: it's near the middle of the photo)
We took soil/sediment micromorphology samples, sediment for ancient DNA analysis, excavated animal bones (select few will be subjected to radiocarbon dating), we also laser mapped the cave interior, and photogrammetry of the exterior. All analysis should be ...
completed by first quarter of 2023 and we are planning our next field season at Castlepook cave already.
Tomorrow I shall finish up this story, but it's not the end. If you have kept up this week, I thank you for your interest in our research. See ye tomor eve!
I have a nice warm 3-mint tea to accompany me on this last part of the origins story of #IrishCaveBones. I hope you too, have a nice suitable beverage.
In 2021, Assoc. Prof. Helen Lewis (Sch. Archaeology, University College Dublin, Ireland with named collaborators applied for another larger grant for #IrishCaveBones. The grant was Irish Research Council
COALESCE INSTAR+.
COALESCE INSTAR+.
And....the grant was successful!!! WOOHOO!! Granted in 2022 and I was successful in applying for the Research Scientist position (50% parttime post) with University College Dublin and my official start date was Sept. 8th 2022. I was/am so delighted. #IrishCaveBones
I had been appointed Adjunct Research Fellow in March 2017 to the Sch. of Archaeology, UCD. But this wasn't a paid position but still gave me important access to Library & to colleagues. For so many years, I worked more or less alone with the #IrishCaveBones, and only for the ..
'paper-that-must-not-be-named-yet' SIGNIFICANT results, I was starting to think no one cared about all these bones, filled with Ireland's past and knowledge. How could I get funding to let me devote time even to the initial sorting, assessment and identification? #IrishCaveBones
I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but I became very disheartened. I thought have the publication of the Upper Palaeolithic human cut brown bear knee cap from Alice and Gwendoline cave (Edenvale cave complex, Co. Clare), which was amazing and #IrishCaveBones
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379116300610
indicated how much potential these #IrishCaveBones had/have and can still contribute so much to Irish archaeology and palaeo scientific studies on past Irish ecosystems. And still after I applied for larger grants, nothing. I had persisted for so long, mainly on my own, how could
I continue, when no one cared.... but I couldn't give up. I was addicted. #IrishCaveBones was also and still is, my happy place. I had come so far, for so long. I also have fun with my work, and did play with all the deer phalanges as my personal army at one stage on the desk...
..I couldn't abandon the #IrishCaveBones project - there were still so many questions left unanswered. So I did reach out to Helen Lewis again and I was working with Richard Jennings (Liverpool John Moores Uni) on Ballynamintra cave and this gave me hope again. These colleagues
and other colleagues that I still worked with (Allan McDevitt) and friends I talked to (Daniel Buckley) also saw how important #IrishCaveBones were and what we could accomplish together. They, combined, let me recharge and to continue and so why do I say this, is so you can see ...
how important it was to me, and excited I was to get the Research Scientist position in UCD
on the FUNDED #IrishCaveBones project. Finally, the funding is in place so I can devote 50% of my time for next 2 years with something so close to my heart and soul - finally I can
on the FUNDED #IrishCaveBones project. Finally, the funding is in place so I can devote 50% of my time for next 2 years with something so close to my heart and soul - finally I can
devote time, and concentrate, tease out, read other research, develop ideas and models, without having to worry too much where my next paying contract will come from. I can actually fully immerse myself in #IrishCaveBones - what can we accomplish together and we have such a team!
And the project is still called #IrishCaveBones - a name that is so simple, it does what it says on the tin. The heart of this 2 year funded project all focuses on the excavated animal bones (& some plant data) from across the full island of Ireland. We are delving deeper into
Ireland's palaeoecoystems from an all-island perspective, faunal relationships (predator-prey, herbivores, carnivores), all the size ranges of the fauna, human-animal relationships, zooarchaeological analysis, statistical GIS spatial modelling, #IrishCaveBones
biometrical analysis of the bones, ancient DNA, stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating and another surprise. AND, we are excavating Irish caves - yes previously excavated caves and new caves (so exciting!!). #IrishCaveBones
We really have an excellent team of colleagues on this amazing project, gathered over the years and now all working together - we continue to work & collaborate with the Cork Speleological Group @CavingIreland
of cavers - who are sound to work with & keep us safe #IrishCaveBones
of cavers - who are sound to work with & keep us safe #IrishCaveBones
Assoc. Prof. Helen Lewis, the PI on the 2 year funded Irish Research Coucil
project, at UCD Sch. of Archaeology, Dublin, Ireland. Helen is a geoarchaeologist and a highly experienced cave archaeologist. https://people.ucd.ie/helen.lewis #IrishCaveBones
project, at UCD Sch. of Archaeology, Dublin, Ireland. Helen is a geoarchaeologist and a highly experienced cave archaeologist. https://people.ucd.ie/helen.lewis #IrishCaveBones
Then there's me... the Research Scientist based at UCD Sch. of Archaeology on the #IrishCaveBones project funded by the Irish Research Council
COALESCE INSTAR+ grant - which is funded by the National Monuments
https://people.ucd.ie/ruth.carden
COALESCE INSTAR+ grant - which is funded by the National Monuments
https://people.ucd.ie/ruth.carden
Dr Richard Jennings, a Kiwi native and highly experienced Palaeolithic archaeologist and a licenced archaeologist in Ireland. Richard is in @LJMU
https://ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-science/school-of-biological-and-environmental-sciences/richard-jennings #IrishCaveBones
https://ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-science/school-of-biological-and-environmental-sciences/richard-jennings #IrishCaveBones
Radiocarbon dating is essential to place these animals in time in Ireland's prehistoric past - can't do this research without dating. And today, we are delighted to welcome our new excellent collaboration with 14CHRONO at Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, with Dr Maarten Blaauw & Dr Gerard Barrett #IrishCaveBones
For stable isotopes based palaeo-food webs we are collaborating with @DrHaydo
- an Irish native in Canada, eh! https://unb.ca/faculty-staff/directory/science-fr-bio/hayden-brian.html #IrishCaveBones
- an Irish native in Canada, eh! https://unb.ca/faculty-staff/directory/science-fr-bio/hayden-brian.html #IrishCaveBones
And Darren Grocke - an Australian working in Uni. Durham, UK - for other stable isotope analysis https://durham.ac.uk/staff/d-r-grocke/ #IrishCaveBones
Ancient DNA and ancient genomics we are working with for canids species @pontus_skoglund
in The Francis Crick Institute in London, UK https://crick.ac.uk/research/labs/pontus-skoglund #IrishCaveBones
in The Francis Crick Institute in London, UK https://crick.ac.uk/research/labs/pontus-skoglund #IrishCaveBones
For other species' ancient DNA we are working with Prof. Dan Bradley @tcddublin
https://tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=dbradley #IrishCaveBones
https://tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=dbradley #IrishCaveBones
We have unidentifiable bone fragments from the #IrishCaveBones Project, we can subject these to special analysis by mass spectrometry called ZooMS, this technique is strategically important as we can identify to genus/species fragments for further analysis. #IrishCavebones
We are working with Dr Mike Buckley in Univ. of Manchester, UK on the ZooMS part of the research. https://research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/m.buckley.html #IrishCaveBones
Cave mapping using cutting-edge technqiues - laser 3D scanning mapping and photogrammetry - will be used to record caves we are working in and is in collaboration with and lead by Dr Patrick Randolph-Quinney
at https://northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/patrick-randolph-quinney/ #IrishCaveBones
at https://northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/patrick-randolph-quinney/ #IrishCaveBones
A relatively new and becoming steadfast analytical techique is ancient sedimentary DNA which might divulge all sorts of secrets!! We are collaborating with Dr Rui Martiniano at Liverpool John Moores University, UK on this asepect https://ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-science/school-of-biological-and-environmental-sciences/rui-leite-portela-martiniano #IrishCaveBones
Soil micromorphology and bulk geochemistry samples will/have been taken in the caves we are working on and this is Helen's research area as expert archaeological soil micromorphologist. #IrishCaveBones
Not least forgetting the actual #IrishCaveBones (I got carried away with all the other research)- IDs, sorting, recording, spatial modelling, developing palaeo-ecosystem models (with the others), exploring & investigating human-animal relationships, that's my areas of expertise.
And where are we getting these #IrishCaveBones from? Well, from our new excavations over 2 years, with our ongoing long collaboration with Richard Jennings on Ballynamintra cave and our Castlepook cave excavations. And ...
delighted to say we have a new collaboration with the National Museums of Northern Ireland on the #IrishCaveBones project, thus making this a all-island research project. Dr Mike Simms, NMNI, is a expert cave geologist & researching with us in the field on how these caves formed.
We are very lucky, to have a special collaborator & new colleague working with us on this exciting and cutting-edge Irish cave & palaeoenvironmental #IrishCaveBones project - our own artist-in-residence, the excellent John Flynn @JohnFlynnArt
https://instagram.com/johnflynnart/?
https://instagram.com/johnflynnart/?
We will also will be looking at some bones from the National Museum of Ireland antiquarian caves, which need to be sorted, identified and documented to Museum standards. #IrishCaveBones
We are also working with the highly regarded archaeological & heritage photographer, Ken Williams
https://shadowsandstone.com , who gleefully enters the caves to take highly detailed photographs! #IrishCaveBones
https://shadowsandstone.com , who gleefully enters the caves to take highly detailed photographs! #IrishCaveBones
And I’m not forgetting the most important #UnseenHeritageHeroes cave archaeologists on our excavations, who brave the dark underbelly of our island’s palaeo/lands - our magic team - Phil Kenny, Clare Ryan, Louise Callan and Keziah Warburton. #IrishCaveBones
So there ye have it, we are up to date on the long running #IrishCaveBones project, 2007 to today and into the next two years of exciting cutting edge research and investigations. Stay tuned here or elsewhere (see Alt text on photo below for details). Thank you for reading! Ruth
Also, I want to say I have enjoyed and learned from, in recent years discussing various aspects on Ireland's past with several colleagues (Allan McDevitt and Daniel Buckley) and ... #IrishCaveBones
now, new friends, I have met here on Twitter, including @RewildingIre on Twitter
and @RichardMacTire on Twitter
. These have provided invaluable perspectives from different angles. And it's good to chat and discuss and I will look forward to future discussions. Thank you, R
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Thanks for coming on this journey with me on the origins and evolution of the #IrishCaveBones project.
Sláinte, R