Archaeology, University of Galway

28/09/2026

Drs Michelle Comber and Noel McCarthy had a great day with Michelle's 'Archaeology and Irish Identity' class in the Burren on Saturday. Poulnabrone and Caherconnell provided the classrooms!

23/09/2026

The Discipline of Archaeology and the School of Geography, Archaeology & Irish Studies are delighted to announce that Professor Lakhdar Benbouzid, Full Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Biskra, Algeria (and CASSCS Visiting Fellow), will deliver a lecture entitled ‘From the Tassili to the Nile: What Rock Art Reveals about the Libyans in Egypt’, 12.00 – 12.50pm, on Thursday, 24 September in the McMunn lecture theatre, Arts/Science building. All are welcome!

From the thirteenth century BC, Libyan groups pressed on Egypt's western frontier, and some three centuries later they gave Egypt a ruling house. The usual explanation is simple: the Sahara dried up and its people moved east. This lecture tells a different story. The rock paintings and stone tombs of the Tassili n'Ajjer and the Tadrart Acacus show communities that responded to a shrinking landscape by organising themselves. They formed armed groups, settled disputes, negotiated with their neighbours and built monumental tombs to a common plan across the desert. Climate change set the conditions, but people made the choices. Drawing on many years of fieldwork, the talk follows these societies from the central Sahara towards the Nile.

21/09/2026

Some of our new first-year class enjoying a field class in the Burren on Saturday. Welcome one and all!

02/09/2026

Considering studying archaeology with us? Hear directly from a couple of our current students... Thanks to Caoimhe and Hugh.

31/08/2026

For the week that's in it - welcome to all of our new First Years!

27/08/2026

From lecture hall to career - come study archaeology with us! (and hear from AMS staff during the course of your degree!!)

29/07/2026

An audio summary from Mythical Ireland...

26/07/2026

A little more info on the Maree dig...

The rediscovery of a prehistoric tomb in Co Galway has led to the unearthing of another tomb next to it, hinting at the "complexity" of the culture of Ireland's first farming communities.

23/07/2026

The Irish Neolithic has just gotten a new star find... an amethyst pendant bead. Well done to Hugh and Sue at our Maree excavation!

22/07/2026

Caoimhe was very happy with her find of a Neolithic arrowhead today! Saving the best until last at the Maree dig...