New perspectives on coastal hunter gatherers in Ireland’s Mesolithic period is the theme of an upcoming Sligo Field Club lecture.
Prof Graeme Warren will speak on the topic on February 28th as part of the field club’s 2025 lecture programme.
Prof Warren, who is professor at University College, Dublin’s (UCD) school of archaeology, is a specialist in the archaeology of hunter-gatherers, with his primary research focus mainly in north-west Europe.
New research on Dublin’s Lambay island will also be outlined by Prof Gabriel Cooney later in the year.
Dr Rory Connolly (TCD) conducting a tour of the shell middens at Shelly Valley and Cullenamore, Sligo, for Sligo Field Club during Heritage Week 2023
Prof Cooney is Emeritus professor of Celtic archaeology at UCD and author of the 2023 publication, Death in Irish Prehistory which won the European Association of Archaeologists Book Price in 2024.
The Sligo Antiquarian Society was set up in 1945, but the Sligo Field Club, as it is now known, has been active since 1954.
Sligo Field Club, whose president is Sally Siggins, aims to promote awareness and interest of topics including: archaeology, history, and natural history.
Each year the club run a series of lectures hosted at the Sligo Education Centre.
Previous field trips have included walks and talks at Serpent’s Rock, Ballyconnell, Sligo, and shell middens at Shelly valley and Culleenamore.
Shell Midden at Cullenamore, Sligo - fascinating remains of prehistoric kitchen middens or refuse sites
“Sligeach”, the Irish name for Sligo, translates as a place abounding in shells.
Further details on the lectures will be on Sligo Field Club’s Facebook page
