Andrew Gault
@andrewgault.bsky.social
Archaeologist. Hill lover. Should be at my allotment.
Senior Inspector of Historic Monuments, working mostly in development management.
My views etc.
Senior Inspector of Historic Monuments, working mostly in development management.
My views etc.
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Hot off the press, our new paper on the incredible Late Bronze Age nucleated settlement at Brusselstown Ring hillfort, Co. Wicklow, Ireland is freely available to read (doi.org/10.15184/aqy...). @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social @antiquity.ac.uk
Brusselstown Ring: a nucleated settlement agglomeration in prehistoric Ireland | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Brusselstown Ring: a nucleated settlement agglomeration in prehistoric Ireland
doi.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Hot off the press, our new paper on the incredible Late Bronze Age nucleated settlement at Brusselstown Ring hillfort, Co. Wicklow, Ireland is freely available to read (doi.org/10.15184/aqy...). @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social @antiquity.ac.uk
Reposted by Andrew Gault
What stunning views from these Irish passage graves @Carrowkeel
November 17, 2025 at 6:36 PM
What stunning views from these Irish passage graves @Carrowkeel
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Grand first day digging the Dane’s Cast in Co Down! Iron Age or Medieval linear earthwork running along the Newry Valley. We’ll know soon enough. Some nice postholes, a palisade slot and two big ditches and banks
November 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Grand first day digging the Dane’s Cast in Co Down! Iron Age or Medieval linear earthwork running along the Newry Valley. We’ll know soon enough. Some nice postholes, a palisade slot and two big ditches and banks
I should have posted this on Tuesday I suppose. The Knockagh monument, war memorial for County Antrim. Familiar backdrop round these parts and somewhere I've been running to a bit recently.
November 13, 2025 at 10:45 PM
I should have posted this on Tuesday I suppose. The Knockagh monument, war memorial for County Antrim. Familiar backdrop round these parts and somewhere I've been running to a bit recently.
I visited this site shortly after the damage was reported. Shocking indeed. Good to see this outcome, but that damage cannot be undone.
BBC News - Damage to historic site 'a significant loss to society'
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - Damage to historic site 'a significant loss to society'
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Dunmull Hillfort: Damage to historic site is 'a significant loss to society'
Dr Paul Logue, from the Department for Communities, said damage to a hillfort is "one of the very worst" he's seen.
www.bbc.com
September 12, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I visited this site shortly after the damage was reported. Shocking indeed. Good to see this outcome, but that damage cannot be undone.
BBC News - Damage to historic site 'a significant loss to society'
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - Damage to historic site 'a significant loss to society'
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Research shows that pig remains at Newgrange result from midwinter feasting conducted c.2600-2450 BC, centuries after the tomb had been closed off. Most of pigs slaughtered during mid-winter solstice after being fattened on acorns in oak forests in the preceding months. 2/3
August 19, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Research shows that pig remains at Newgrange result from midwinter feasting conducted c.2600-2450 BC, centuries after the tomb had been closed off. Most of pigs slaughtered during mid-winter solstice after being fattened on acorns in oak forests in the preceding months. 2/3
Recently, midway water-stop at Ben Crom reservoir during the Mourne Seven Sevens. Turned out to be a great day.
August 19, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Recently, midway water-stop at Ben Crom reservoir during the Mourne Seven Sevens. Turned out to be a great day.
The gardener's curse is constantly seeing the problems, the pests, the things that could be better. You can't sit still for five minutes without seeing a job to do.
Year 4 in my new garden sees vine weevils, slug tsunamis, malnourished soil, totrix moths and possibly box moth caterpillars ☠️ 🐛 🪲
Year 4 in my new garden sees vine weevils, slug tsunamis, malnourished soil, totrix moths and possibly box moth caterpillars ☠️ 🐛 🪲
August 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
The gardener's curse is constantly seeing the problems, the pests, the things that could be better. You can't sit still for five minutes without seeing a job to do.
Year 4 in my new garden sees vine weevils, slug tsunamis, malnourished soil, totrix moths and possibly box moth caterpillars ☠️ 🐛 🪲
Year 4 in my new garden sees vine weevils, slug tsunamis, malnourished soil, totrix moths and possibly box moth caterpillars ☠️ 🐛 🪲
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Stunning images by Julian Friers of extinct and lost Irish animals from #Megaloceros, #Mammoth, to Great Auk, with the full story of Ireland’s ice age animals and human impacts on the fauna by Mike Simms. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
August 8, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Stunning images by Julian Friers of extinct and lost Irish animals from #Megaloceros, #Mammoth, to Great Auk, with the full story of Ireland’s ice age animals and human impacts on the fauna by Mike Simms. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
The most picturesque house in the Mournes, seen at the end of a loop of the Annalong Valley today. And a horse, who I caught napping.
July 16, 2025 at 8:44 PM
The most picturesque house in the Mournes, seen at the end of a loop of the Annalong Valley today. And a horse, who I caught napping.
Reposted by Andrew Gault
A more than 5,550-year-old well-preserved #Neolithic knife. The blade is crafted from flint and secured in a wooden handle using birch tar. Furthermore, the handle features a hole, intended for attaching a cord.
From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
July 5, 2025 at 5:04 AM
A more than 5,550-year-old well-preserved #Neolithic knife. The blade is crafted from flint and secured in a wooden handle using birch tar. Furthermore, the handle features a hole, intended for attaching a cord.
From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
From the pile dwelling settlement...🧵 1/2
📷 me
🏺 #archaeology
Trail running woe in the Antrim Hills yesterday. At the furthest point from my car just as I was turning to head back I realised my key was gone. Small hole in the pocket 🤦
Luckily I met a chap (the only other person!) who let me use his phone and I was able to get my spare key. Lessons learned 🙌
Luckily I met a chap (the only other person!) who let me use his phone and I was able to get my spare key. Lessons learned 🙌
July 3, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Trail running woe in the Antrim Hills yesterday. At the furthest point from my car just as I was turning to head back I realised my key was gone. Small hole in the pocket 🤦
Luckily I met a chap (the only other person!) who let me use his phone and I was able to get my spare key. Lessons learned 🙌
Luckily I met a chap (the only other person!) who let me use his phone and I was able to get my spare key. Lessons learned 🙌
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Surveying a house in Leicestershire. Its all about the brickwork. Early 18thC bricks w/ angled skintlings & mid-19thC bricks w/ horizontal skintlings. Skintlings are the creases where the bricks were stacked in the kiln. This changes from angled to horizontal in early 19thC.
June 30, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Surveying a house in Leicestershire. Its all about the brickwork. Early 18thC bricks w/ angled skintlings & mid-19thC bricks w/ horizontal skintlings. Skintlings are the creases where the bricks were stacked in the kiln. This changes from angled to horizontal in early 19thC.
Reposted by Andrew Gault
The capstone covering the 10m long chamber of the dolmen angevin of Briande (aka Pierre du Marais) in Arçay (Vienne) has broken in two but still rests rather dramatically on 7 surviving orthostats. #TombTuesday. Card by Dando-Berry c.1905.
June 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The capstone covering the 10m long chamber of the dolmen angevin of Briande (aka Pierre du Marais) in Arçay (Vienne) has broken in two but still rests rather dramatically on 7 surviving orthostats. #TombTuesday. Card by Dando-Berry c.1905.
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Millin Bay is a kinda cool place as nobody's really sure what's going on with it, apart from.maybe the wondrous Liam McQuillan and Lisa White who are currently working on it.
It is one of the highly strange sites across Ireland, and has more than a whiff of @hookland.bsky.social about it. A thread
It is one of the highly strange sites across Ireland, and has more than a whiff of @hookland.bsky.social about it. A thread
June 21, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Millin Bay is a kinda cool place as nobody's really sure what's going on with it, apart from.maybe the wondrous Liam McQuillan and Lisa White who are currently working on it.
It is one of the highly strange sites across Ireland, and has more than a whiff of @hookland.bsky.social about it. A thread
It is one of the highly strange sites across Ireland, and has more than a whiff of @hookland.bsky.social about it. A thread
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Our alternative interpretations of the ‘king’ of Newgrange (a skull fragment from an individual who was born of incest) and his distant relations have been published! We argue for the importance of careful integration of aDNA results with detailed archaeological evidence. Such a great team effort!
Who was NG10 and what was the world they lived in? The sister paper to our CAJ paper is now out in Antiquity and the cover image no less! Working on these papers with this group, has been one of the richest academic experiences I have had in my career. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber - Volume 99 Issue 405
www.cambridge.org
June 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Our alternative interpretations of the ‘king’ of Newgrange (a skull fragment from an individual who was born of incest) and his distant relations have been published! We argue for the importance of careful integration of aDNA results with detailed archaeological evidence. Such a great team effort!
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Cover image from 'The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber' - Jessica Smyth et al.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber - Volume 99 Issue 405
doi.org
June 24, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Cover image from 'The ‘king’ of Newgrange? A critical analysis of a Neolithic petrous fragment from the passage tomb chamber' - Jessica Smyth et al.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Finally starting to feel myself again after completing the Mourne Way Marathon yesterday. It's the first marathon I've done, and to add to the type 2 fun it's a trail marathon on forest tracks, rough mountain trails and bog with >1100m elevation gain. With heavy rain showers and hail thrown in 😆
June 8, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Finally starting to feel myself again after completing the Mourne Way Marathon yesterday. It's the first marathon I've done, and to add to the type 2 fun it's a trail marathon on forest tracks, rough mountain trails and bog with >1100m elevation gain. With heavy rain showers and hail thrown in 😆
Reposted by Andrew Gault
Are you interested in re-wilding? We have a questionnaire on re-wilding and the historic environment open, and keen to hear from ecologists, land managers, and archaeological practitioners. Access the questionnaire here - uofg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
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uofg.qualtrics.com
June 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Are you interested in re-wilding? We have a questionnaire on re-wilding and the historic environment open, and keen to hear from ecologists, land managers, and archaeological practitioners. Access the questionnaire here - uofg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
You may not realise it, but somewhere, quietly, a miniature schnauzer is watching you.
May 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
You may not realise it, but somewhere, quietly, a miniature schnauzer is watching you.
Ballylesson, south of Belfast and Edenderry, in the sunshine today. Impressive landscape, not far from the Giant's Ring.
May 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Ballylesson, south of Belfast and Edenderry, in the sunshine today. Impressive landscape, not far from the Giant's Ring.
Archaeology is built heritage.
I keep seeing the term being applied to refer only to historic buildings, as if archaeological heritage were a separate thing. It isn't.
It constitutes the material remains of human cultures and agency, distinct for example from natural heritage.
I keep seeing the term being applied to refer only to historic buildings, as if archaeological heritage were a separate thing. It isn't.
It constitutes the material remains of human cultures and agency, distinct for example from natural heritage.
May 21, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Archaeology is built heritage.
I keep seeing the term being applied to refer only to historic buildings, as if archaeological heritage were a separate thing. It isn't.
It constitutes the material remains of human cultures and agency, distinct for example from natural heritage.
I keep seeing the term being applied to refer only to historic buildings, as if archaeological heritage were a separate thing. It isn't.
It constitutes the material remains of human cultures and agency, distinct for example from natural heritage.
Stunning day in the central Mournes ☀️
May 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Stunning day in the central Mournes ☀️
Peak long run today in the sunny Mournes, now tapering to the Mourne Way Marathon in early June. What a day for it!
May 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Peak long run today in the sunny Mournes, now tapering to the Mourne Way Marathon in early June. What a day for it!
Loving evening walks in our local woods these days
May 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Loving evening walks in our local woods these days