If you take the time to peruse monographs 1–10 in this series, you may be surprised to note that there are comparatively few papers that deal exclusively with an individual object or specific artefact type. Hundreds of new archaeological sites have been unearthed prior to road construction during the two decades that the National Roads Authority (NRA) has been in existence, and you will find much information about these discoveries within this monograph series. Most of the papers focus on a site, or sites, with passing reference made to the myriad finds that have been uncovered there. The 2013 NRA National Archaeology Seminar—‘Fragments of Lives Past: archaeological objects from Irish road schemes’—sought to shift the focus to those items from Ireland’s past that offer perhaps the most tangible and enduring connection to the people who created our rich and sometimes troubled history.

The ‘Fragments of Lives Past’ seminar took place on Thursday, 22 August 2013 at the City Wall Space, Wood Quay Venue, Dublin Civic Offices. The papers presented on the day explored the theme of archaeological objects and what they tell us about the past peoples of Ireland; going beyond mere measurements to look at the artefacts themselves and to emphasise the human or individual aspects behind the objects. Among the numerous insights offered herein, you will learn about what Neolithic pottery vessels may actually have contained, the rare survival of wooden objects and the important information they convey, how people in early medieval Ireland expressed identity through their costume and appearance, one of the first locally made pottery wares in Ireland after the aceramic Iron Age and the desperate terror of Jacobite soldiers routed at the Battle of Aughrim, in County Galway.

Contents: 1. Milk and molecules: secrets from prehistoric pottery, Jessica Smyth & Richard P Evershed; 2. ‘Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?’ Wooden objects from Irish road schemes, Caitríona Moore; 3. The people behind the pots: considering the Early Bronze Age remains from French Furze, Tully East, Co. Kildare, Ros Ó ‘Maoldúin; 4. Castlefarm 1 and the working of skeletal materials in early medieval rural Ireland, Ian Riddler & Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski; 5. An early medieval copper-alloy ladle from Ballynapark, Co. Wicklow, Noel Dunne; 6. Dress and ornament in early medieval Ireland—exploring the evidence, Maureen Doyle; 7. Early medieval E ware pottery: an unassuming but enigmatic kitchen ware?, Ian W Doyle; 8. In praise of Leinster Cooking Ware, Clare McCutcheon; 9. Witnesses to history: a military assemblage from the 1691 Aughrim battlefield, Damian Shiels; 10. Experimental archaeology: making; understanding; story-telling, Aidan O’Sullivan, Conor McDermott, Graeme Warren, Maeve L’Estrange, Antoinette Burke, Mario Kazuro, Mark Powers, John Murphy, Bernard Gilhooly, Niamh Kelly, Niall Innwood, John Mulrooney, Wayne Malone, Cian Corrigan, Brendan O’Neill, Mark Heffernan & Mairead Sweeney.

illustrations: c. 92  colour and b/w photographs, drawings

format/extent: paperback c. 150 pages