Archaeology Seminar

Consultant archaeologist Dr Alan Hawkes MIAI will give the next lecture in Archaeology’s research seminar series.

Title: Burnt Mounds and Prehistoric Cooking: Reappraising the Evidence

The widespread distribution of burnt mounds is striking, suggesting that Ireland was the most prominent user of the pyrolithic water-boiling technology in Bronze Age Europe. However, narratives related to these sites have long revolved around function, to the extent that the basic definition of this monument type has been called into question. This paper will examine the use of these sites based on evidence from some 1,000 excavated examples in Ireland and provides new insights into the use of pyrolithic technology for cooking.