DrMartin Moucheron

My current postdoctoral research project (2025-2027) aims to reassess the state of knowledge, vulnerability, and remaining archaeological potential of legacy Mesolithic sites excavated between the 1930s and 1999. Despite recent efforts aimed at introducing a wider audience to the lives of hunter-gatherers, Mesolithic archaeology is still relatively under-researched in Ireland. Narratives remain influenced by a few ‘key’ sites excavated in the 20^th century most of which have not seen active work since, or by more recent but exceptional discoveries. More specifically, this project questions the past, present, and future of these sites:

•         The past, by analysing the available archives – both published and unpublished, written and material – to critically review the state of knowledge about each site, and inform the assessment of their archaeological potential and vulnerability;
•         The present, by combining the reviewed state of knowledge with new geophysical, geoarchaeological and archaeological data to assess the sites’ archaeological potential, and to inform their vulnerability assessment;
•         The future, by identifying and quantifying risks to evaluate the sites’ vulnerability to natural and human factors, and generate a standardised Archaeological Vulnerability Index for each site.

Previous postdoctoral work includes collaborations as Research Fellow with Prof. Gabriel Cooney (Emeritus, UCD) for the lithics analysis of the Eagle’s Nest – Lambay Island Early/Middle Neolithic flint assemblage, with Profs. Chantal Conneller (Newcastle University) and Graeme Warren (Edition and GIS Integration), and with Prof. Graeme Warren on the Mar Lodge Project, Cairngorms, Scotland (Data Management, Remote Sensing and GIS Integration). I also worked as Field Archaeologist, Lithic Analyst and Data Integration Specialist for various projects in both developer-led and academic contexts.