Roots of Resilience.
The 2025 EAI conference, Roots of resilience: archaeological perspectives on sustainability, was held at the Helen Roe Theatre, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin, on the 10th May 2025.
Download the short version of the conference programme here.
Download the conference abstracts here.
WELCOME SPEECH
10:00 – 10:10 — Ellen O’Carroll (Chair of Environmental Archaeology, Ireland, CPD Co-ordinator Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland)
LIGHTNING TALKS
10:10 – 10:15 — Nikolah Gilligan (Independent Archaeobotanist and Archaeological Site Director) I heard it on the grapevine
10:15 – 10:20 — Marc Morris (PhD candidate, University College Dublin) Cugghi l’acqua quando chiovi: Ancient Sustainability and Adaptation in a Water-Poor Landscape
15 MINUTE TALKS
10:20 – 10:35 — Charlotte Molloy (First Harvests Project, University College Dublin) The ‘First Harvests’ project: untangling climate, chronology and cereal cultivation in Later Neolithic Ireland 3600-2500 BC
10:35 – 10:50 — Penny Johnston (FOODSEC Project, University College Dublin) Burning down the house. Evidence for grain storage at Irish domestic settlements from c. 1600 to 800 BC
10:50 – 11:05 — Robert Power (DietEvo Project, University College Dublin) Dental calculus microbotanical evidence of early agricultural diets
11:05 – 11:20 — Q & A
BREAK
15 MINUTE TALKS
11:50 – 12:05 — Eva Kourela (PhD candidate, University College Dublin) Theory before practice: Building on theoretical frameworks to inform the future
12:05 – 12:20 — Marie-Therese Barrett (Dendrochronological researcher, Irish Archaeology Consultancy Ltd, QUB) Reconstructing Drumclay’s Past: The Role of Tree-Ring Analysis
12:20 – 12:35 — Kevin Daly (Lecturer/Assistant Professor at UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science, Conway and Ad Astra fellow) A Healthy Herd: inbreeding and pathogens in ancient livestock remains
12:35 – 12:50 — Bruce Sutton (PhD candidate, University of Highlands and Islands/Rubicon Archaeology Group Ltd) Fuel for Thought: Irish Burnt Mounds as an Underappreciated Anthracological Resource
12:50 – 13:05 — Q & A
LUNCH
LIGHTNING TALKS
14:05 – 14:10 — Roisin O’Droma (Environmental Specialist, Irish Archaeology Consultancy Ltd and Carlow College.) Fields of Evidence: Using Archaeobotanical and Historical Documentary Sources to Understand Agriculture in Medieval Dublin
14:10 – 14:15 — Niamh Millward (PhD candidate, University College Dublin and Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.) The Risks of Climate Change to Irish Heritage
15 MINUTE TALKS
14: 15 – 14: 30 — Caitríona Moore (IPeAAT Project, University College Cork and Archaeology Built Heritage) Irish Peatland Archaeology Across Time
14:30 – 14:45 — Don O’Meara (Archaeologist, Historic England) Hibernia to Cumbria – North Irish Sea Agricultural Exchange in the Medieval Period
14:45 – 15:00 — Meriel McClatchie (Associate Professor, CROPREVIVE project, University College Dublin) CROPREVIVE: how past farming systems can help build a more sustainable future
15:00 – 15:15 — Q & A
KEYNOTE
15:15 – 15:55 — Francis Ludlow (Associate Professor of Medieval Environmental History, Trinity College Dublin)
15:55 – 16:10 — Q & A
END OF THE CONFERENCE
