There are hundreds of videos on YouTube
relevant to Irish archaeology, especially if you include scenes of
castles. Many of these are holiday videos, with comments like 'I have
no clue where we are, but it's a bunch of rocks'. This list will, I
hope, give a representative selection, but will tend to concentrate on
the more interesting ones.
Excavations and sites, documentaries
- Archaeological Discovery at Church Street, Youghal - youghalonline - 3min 53sec
The local news website in Youghal, Co. Cork, YoughalOnline.com, interviews archaeologist Daniel Noonan about the mediaeval paved road surface which he is excavating.
- The Archaeologists - thachabre - 6min 49sec
Some of the archaeologists who worked on the N6 Kinnegad-Kilbeggan and
N52 Mullingar-Belvedere Road Schemes talk about their experiences.
- New Grange Grave Ireland - sexsadas - 1min 10sec
Part of the guided tour of Newgrange. Looking at the great kerbstone at
the entrance, the guide points out, correctly, that no-one really knows
the meaning of the symbols. I’m not sure that these tour guides would
appreciate being put on YouTube, though, and I foresee a crackdown. Information on visiting Newgrange
- Dublin Castle - RedCeltic - 18min 13sec
Complete record of a guided tour of Dublin Castle, both the
17th-18th-century rooms above and the mediaeval structures excavated in
the undercroft. Information on visiting Dublin Castle
- Glendalough part 1 - RedCeltic - 7min 17sec
Guided tour of the ruined monastic site at Glendalough, Co Wicklow on a
rainy, windy day. Introduction to the site and a visit to the
gatehouse. Information on visiting Glendalough
- Glendalough part 2 - RedCeltic - 7min 11sec
The burial ground and the Round Tower.
- Glendalough part 3 - RedCeltic - 8min 53sec
Starts with a series of stills without comment, then the tour
continues. The Cathedral, with its 10th century nave and 12th-century
chancel, and what the Romanesque was all about. How ‘putlog’
scaffolding worked. St Kevin’s Cross. The "priest’s house". St Kevin’s
Church.
- Glendalough part 4 - RedCeltic - 5min 37sec
Inside St. Kevin’s Church with its original 11th-century stone roof.
The end of the story, from Henry VIII to the National Monuments Acts.
- Dungannon Castle | Time Team | Channel 4 - channel4 - 1min 46sec
Short trailer for the Time Team search for Dungannon Castle.
- Reposting of 'Saitanisci' video- [From Tara - Ireland] - tarapixie2 - 4min 35sec
Polish-made video of scenes from the excavation of one of the sites
near Tara on the M3 scheme. No commentary. German song Du Hast
(Rammstein) as soundtrack.
- Achill Field School-2007-1 - scottsjohnson2007 - 4min 20sec
Slide show of activities of the Achill Archaeological Field School,
with suitable musical accompaniment but no explanation of what people
are doing. Courses run all summer, and students learn a wide range of
skills on sites of various types and periods.
- Beer on TV3 - mooregroupgalway - 1min 53sec
Television report on an interesting piece of experimental archaeology.
Archaeologists Declan Moore and Billy Quinn show that brewing beer
could have been one of the uses of the Bronze Age sites known as burnt
mounds or fulachta fiadh.
- Dungiven - breochloch - 17sec
Camera pans along a line of postholes. Pretty blurred. Probably filmed with a mobile phone.
- Dungiven. 2 - breochloch - 29sec
A quick pan across what appears to be archaeological monitoring of a deep channel being dug. No explanation.
- Dungiven. 3 - breochloch - 1min 12sec
A further walk across an excavation.
- Dungiven. Happy days - breochloch - 17sec
Camera pans back and forth to show a rainbow. Vague indications in the
foreground of what is presumably an archaeological feature marked off
with hazard tape.
Industrial Archaeology
- Arigna coal mine - daithi4u - 45sec
Coal is rare in Ireland. One of the few places where coal mining took place was Arigna,
County Roscommon, where it continued until the 1990s. This is a short
film clip showing the miners at work. Historic footage, monochrome,
with live sound but no commentary.
- Arigna train - daithi4u - 1min 31sec
More old footage: the steam train which transported the coal.
- NSNF-Baryte mine - daithi4u - 1min 46sec
‘A walk to the baryte mine on Kings mountain county Sligo, Ireland.’
Tagged as ‘industrial archaeology’ but it’s mostly a walk through some
atmospheric mountain scenery with some nice guitar music in the
background. A few shots of ruined mine buildings and cables, but no
narrative.
- NSNF-Creevelea ironworks - daithi4u - 2min 10sec
Views of various parts of the old ironworks (1600-1898) at Creevelea, County Leitrim. Restful musical background, no narrative.
The Tara Controversy
This refers to a motorway currently being
constructed near the Hill of Tara, a complex of archaeological
monuments ranging from a Neolithic passage tomb to Iron Age ritual
sites relating to the inauguration of kings.
- Save The Tara Valley - nedbarney - 9min 52sec
Beginning rather abruptly, this appears to be an extract from a
television documentary on the later Bronze Age and Iron Age in Ireland.
There are scenes of geophysical prospecting at the royal sites at
Cruachan and Tara, and we see Professor John Waddell sliding into the
entrance to the Otherworld. After the significance of these sites has
been explained, the documentary gives way to some slides relating to
the Tara controversy.
- The Tara Conspiracy - tarafoundation - 5min 12sec
Description of the significance of Tara, and the controversy about the
building of a nearby road. The narrators seem to be motivated at least
as much by prejudice against business as by love of archaeology.
- A Song for Tara - LilysApple - 4min 30sec
Series of stills of Tara (some of the nicest I’ve seen) acompanying The Voice by Celtic Woman.
- Rath Lugh sequence 1 - JenStotland - 4min 27sec
Two sites affected by the M3 motorway scheme: Rath Lugh, a circular
enclosure which the motorway will pass very close to, and Lismullen
henge (‘an utterly ancient, utterly phenomenal astronomical
observatory’) which will be cut through by the road. Interviews with Dr
Conor Newman & a girl with green hair.
- Rath Lugh sequence 2 - JenStotland - 5min 46sec
Continuation of the above. Conor Newman’s interview is subtitled: note that ‘jeduritical’ should be ‘Jesuitical’.
- Hill of Tara protesters - TheGuyThatSaysStuff - 9 seconds
A short clip of Tara protesters in Grafton Street, Dublin
- The Encirclement of Royal Meath - tarafoundation - 2min 10 sec
Series of text slides attacking various infrastructural projects in County Meath and adjoining areas. No sound.
- Help Save the Tara Valley - ryerin - 4min 56sec
Slides of the excavations, and aerial views of the Tara monuments.
Accompanied by a pop-song sung in an American accent, but the words are
about the Tara controversy rather than the usual ‘ooh baby I love ya’
theme. Repeated references to ‘the money-mad mile’ reveal the jealousy
which motivates most of the protesters.
- Accursed Road, Rath Lugh 2007, Gabhra Valley - AllahugeShame - 3min 59sec
Protesters obstructing the machinery on the road project alternating
with scenes in the protesters’ camp, while a rhyme about the
controversy is recited in the background. Again, a reference to
"speculators’ gold" reveals their real grievance.
- The Importance of Bremore - tarafoundation - 3min 20sec
Another planning controversy: Bremore, in North County Dublin. It is
the site proposed for a new deepwater port, but it will affect a group
of passage tombs. This is explained in a series of text slides. No
sound. Note that ‘Gabriel Conroy’ should be ‘Gabriel Cooney’.
Tourist videos, etc
Slide Shows
- Monoliths of Europe - LilysApple - 10min 23sec
Still photographs, not only of monoliths, but of megalithic tombs,
standing stones/stone rows, and other stone monuments in various
countries, with a musical soundtrack (The Last of the Mohicans, of all things). Some very picturesque sunsets.
- Celtic Archaeology and History - Richard Edward Wurst - 9min 53sec
Series of stills of sites, manuscripts, finds, structures, and book
covers, with a musical accompaniment described as ‘songs by Celts’. It
includes pre-Celtic sites such as Newgrange and Stonehenge, and
post-Celtic sites such as St. Lawrence’s Gate, Drogheda.
Impressionistic and a bit mixed up: you won’t learn much from it, but
you might like it if you would prefer to ‘feel’ Celtic art rather than
learn about it.
- The Celts - Enya - ryerin - 9min 26sec
A compendium of views (mixed video and still) with Enya’s music.
Scenery and ruins from the air, old engravings, re-enactors in battle,
an ancient manuscript and more. Quite a lot of decidedly non-Celtic
images - megalithic tombs, Henry II, Gothic cathedrals, a Norman
knight’s effigy, 18th-century church plate, and modern Dublin.
The Celts
- Nature, Spirituality and the Celts - Tirbrath - 2minutes
The narrator discusses the relationship between the "Celtic" attitude to nature and that of the "Green" movement.
Comedy
- The First Archaeology Montage (The Heat is ON) - MysteryFedoraMan - 4min 02sec
Comic film made on the N8/M8 road project with speeded-up motion and
quirky editing. Actually, it mostly shows normal excavation work going
on. Background music (no, I think it’s the video that’s background) is The Heat Is On from Beverley Hills Cop.
- N8/M8 Archaeolgy Montage the second - MysteryFedoraMan - 4min 13 sec
More speeded-up footage from the N8/M8. If you like the music on this one, there's a link to iTunes Store.
- 2006 Cashel Montage - shotfan - 4min 02sec
This is identical to The First Archaeology Montage (The Heat is ON) - see above
- Introduction to practical archaeology - Koomi666 - 6min 26sec
Spoof explanation of a real excavation in County Kilkenny (Bronze Age bus-stop etc). The N9/N10 road project.
- Cialo do Ciala - raffaelsanti - 4min 28sec
Mad Poles on an Irish dig.
Lunatic Fringe
- CERN - A warning from History - feardia - 1min 19sec
ROTFL - Dun Aengus was a Large Hadron Collider built by the Atlanteans.
The black hole they created caused Atlantis to sink under the sea.
Thaddeus C. Breen
If you find any interesting ones that I've missed, please let me know: tbreen@xs4all.nl
Last revised 7 September 2008
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