Wetland Archaeology With Cathy Moore And Ben Gearey – Amplify Archaeology Podcast

Archaeological sites in wetlands vary from wooden trackways, platforms and bridges, to fish traps and fulachta fiadh. One of the defining characteristics of wetland sites is the high quality preservation of organic remains, including human remains as we see so poignantly in the case of ‘bog bodies’. In a sense, the bogs also act as environmental time capsules, as they preserve important palaeoenvironmental material such as botanical and animal remains, and microfossils like pollen. The process of wetland archaeology allows us to investigate and reconstruct past people’s landscapes, culture, and lives in sometimes astonishing detail. However, this remarkable archaeology has long been threatened and often destroyed by industrial peat extraction. Now that plans are afoot to stop peat harvesting and rewet, rehabilitate and repurpose the bogs, our wetland archaeology faces new challenges. For this episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast, Neil was joined for a Zoom chat with Cathy Moore, expert in wetland archaeology and wooden artefacts and Dr. Ben Gearey, lecturer in environmental archaeology at UCC. Find show notes, links and hear the full story on the Abarta Heritage website https://www.abartaheritage.ie/wetland-archaeology-amplify-archaeology-podcast-episode-20/