Carleton jones

Lecturer 

Invstigating the organisation and dynamics of prehistoric societies in Ireland

Biography

Carleton Jones received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1997 with a study of prehistoric landscapes in Ireland. After receiving his Ph.D. he directed Burren Archaeology Research, an organisation set up to facilitate the continuation of research on Roughan Hill, a remarkably preserved prehistoric landscape on the Burren in Co. Clare. The fieldwork component of the Roughan Hill landscape project ran from 1994 to 2001 and involved a combination of survey and excavation. In addition to support provided by Burren Archaeology Research, the project received grants from The Heritage Council and the Royal Irish Academy. The project is now in the writing-up stage.

Office ARC209, Department of Archaeology, School of Geography and Archaeology, Arts/Science Building, NUI, Galway.
Tel 091 492303
Fax 091 525700   
E-mail carleton.jonesnuigalway.ie

Research

My research is concerned with investigating the organization and dynamics of prehistoric societies in Ireland. I am primarily focused on the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age periods and to this end I have directed a long-term field project surveying and excavating on the Burren in western Ireland. This project, the Roughan Hill Project, has recorded and dated an extensive landscape of habitation sites, field divisions, and ritual monuments which allows interpretation to begin at the very local scale of a residential group and then expand geographically and chronologically.

My research takes an anthropological approach to the data and I am particularly concerned with aspects such as the scale of residential groups and patterns of settlement, the economic activities of communities, contact and exchange networks and mechanisms, the scale and focus of ritual activities, and the nature of status distinctions.

Current Writing Projects

• Roughan Hill - A Study of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Society in Western Ireland.

  This monograph presents the results of over six seasons of fieldwork carried out by the author and an interpretation of the resulting data which investigates social organization in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in western Ireland through an interpretive framework rooted in anthropology.

• Excavation of the Cl. 153 chambered tomb on Roughan Hill (Parknabinnia), Co. Clare.

• Excavations at Horse Island.      

Current Graduate Supervision

PhD

• Ros Ó Maoldúin The role of exchange during the Irish Bronze Age: Forming connections between people, ideas and objects.
• Katherine Leonard  Ritual in Late Bronze Age Ireland – Material Culture, Practices, Landscape Setting, and Social Context.
• Phyllis Mercer Ritual Aspects of Irish Portal Tombs.
• Thor McVeigh A Polythetic characterisation of the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age societies within the “ Irish Sea Province ” .

M.Litt.

• Joanna Nolan A typochronological and functional analysis of Irish Neolithic and Bronze Age lithic assemblages.

Completed Graduate Supervision

M.Litt.

• Olive Carey (2009) Coolnatullagh – A Beaker Period/Early Bronze Age Secular and Ritual Landscape in the Eastern Burren.
• Clare Hennigar (2009) The Carran Plateau and the later prehistoric landscape of the Burren in the context of later Bronze Age settlement patterns from Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe.

MA in Landscape Archaeology

• Lynda McCormack (2010) A Comparative and Multi-period Analysis of Loughcrew, Co. Meath - A Landscape of the Living. 
• Cian Scollard (2010) A Landscape Study of Hillforts in Co. Galway.
• Ciara Long (2009) The Rock-Art Landscape of the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry.
• Amy McDonnell-Dowling (2009) The Landscape Siting of Portal Tombs in South Galway and North Clare.
• Patrick Walsh (2007) Archaeological Landscape of Nephin Mountain, Co. Mayo.
• Karen Kelly (2007) The Mass Rocks of West and South Co. Mayo.

• Edel Greene (2005) Embanked Enclosures of East Clare – An analysis of their place in the Irish henge tradition and in the development of the prehistoric landscape of County Clare.

Now accepting post-graduate students with an interest in the social aspects of Irish prehistory.

Teaching

• AR113 Prehistoric Ireland and Europe (1BA)
• AR117 Approaching the Past (1BA)
• AR225 Hunters and Farmers in Early Europe (2BA)
• AR245 Archaeology in Practice (2BA)
• AR334 Ancient Civilizations - The Rise of Complex Societies (2BA)
• AR336 Europe in the Bronze Age (3BA)
• AR344 Debating Irish Prehistory (3BA)
• AR325 Minor Dissertation (3BA)
• MA in Landscape Archaeology: constructing research designs; phenomenology; writing archaeology
• SU 402 The Archaeological Heritage of Ireland (Irish Studies Summer School)

Administration

• Visiting Student Liaison Officer
• Erasmus coordinator
• Open Day Management
• First Year Examination Officer
• Department Consultation Day
• Teaching Schedule Committee
• First and Second Year Curriculum Committee
• Course Director - SU402 The Archaeological Heritage of Ireland. Part of the NUIG Irish Studies summer school.
• Academic Director - Achill Archaeological Field School.

External Responsibilities

Community Outreach Activities

• Burren Tourism for Conservation EU LIFE+ environment project: 2012–2017 - Coordinator of the NUIG contribution(€247,000).
• Patron of the Burrenbeo Trust, a registered charity dedicated to the sustainable management of the Burren landscape.
• Doolin Heritage Committee – June 2012 – chaired a meeting of heritage professionals and gave a talk at inaugural Doolin Heritage weekend.
• Burren Landscape and Settlement Conference - December 2008 - Organised (with help) a one-day conference in Ballyvaughan which presented the results of the Burren Landscape and Settlement project to a wide audience (open to the public).
• Community Talks - talks to various groups including: the Burren Life Project (National Parks and Wildlife Service, Teagasc, and the Burren Irish Farmers Association), schools, local societies, and museums.
• Contribution to the ’Burren Passport’ – 2007 – a community-based project which produced a small publication for sale in local outlets outlining various aspects of the Burren.
• Community Excavation - July 2006 - In co-operation with the County Clare Monuments Advisor. A small excavation on Horse Island which had as one of its aims the raising of the profile of archaeology in the local community.

Professional Contributions

• Committee for Archaeology of the Royal Irish Academy - Feb. 2008 to present.
• Standing Committee on Archaeology of the Heritage Council – March 2011 to present
• Co-Principal Investigator for the Burren Landscape and Settlement Project (Heritage Council INSTAR funded) (April 2008 – Dec. 2008)
• Assessor for the NUI Travelling Studentships in the Humanities and Social Sciences – 2009, 2011
• NUI Interview Panel - Nov. 2008 - Member of interview panel awarding the NUI Centennial Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Irish Studies.
• Editor of Western Stone Forts Project publication - The Discovery Programme (Nov. 2006 - Nov. 2007)
• Occasional anonymous referee for: The Journal of Irish Archaeology, Cambridge University Press.

Publications

Selected Publications

• Schulting, R., E. Murphy, C. Jones, G. Warren 2011 New dates from the north and a proposed chronology for Irish court tombs. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 112C, 1-60.
• Jones, C., O. Carey and C. Hennigar 2010 Domestic production and the political economy in prehistory: evidence from the Burren, Co. Clare. In FitzPatrick, E. and J. Kelly (eds.) Domestic Life in Ireland, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 111C, 33-58. 
• Jones, C. 2009 Coasts, mountains, rivers and bogs.  Using the landscape to explore regionality in Ireland.  In Brophy, K. and G. Barclay (eds.) Defining a Regional Neolithic: Evidence from Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow.
• Jones, C. 2007 Temples of Stone - Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Cork: The Collins Press.
• Jones, C. 2004 The Burren and the Aran Islands - Exploring the Archaeology. Cork: The Collins Press.
• Jones, C. 2003 Neolithic beginnings on Roughan Hill and the Burren.  In Armit, I. et. al. (eds.)  Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain. Oxford: Oxbow.
• Jones, C. 1998 The Discovery and Dating of the Prehistoric Landscape of Roughan Hill in Co. Clare. The Journal of Irish Archaeology 9.

Extended Publication List (IRIS webpage) 

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