Abarta Heritage are the primary project partners of the groundbreaking Landscapes of Revolution Project, that seeks to work with communities to locate, map, understand and protect the archaeology of conflict landscapes from the War of Independence and Irish Civil War period between 1913-23.

Established by Dr. Damian Shiels of Abarta Heritage, the Landscapes of Revolution Project was set up to identify and record surviving archaeology relating to the War of Independence and Civil War, engage communities with the physical remains of their revolutionary past, and to help to raise awareness of one of the country’s most vulnerable and understudied archaeologies.

At the heart of the project is an attempt to locate and map the archaeology of conflict landscapes from the 1913-23 period. It was the first such project to adopt an archaeological approach to examining these historic events. This is an archaeology that can take wide and varied form: buildings that were once RIC Barracks and IRA Safe Houses; fields like those used for training volunteers and hiding arms; streets, roads and ditches that were the scenes of ambushes and firefights. As this period post-dates 1700AD, these sites are among the least studied and least protected archaeological sites in Ireland, and are particularly vulnerable to damage or destruction. As a result, raising awareness of the value and importance of these vulnerable landscapes is a vital aspect of the project.

A key component of the Landscapes of Revolution Project is engaging with local communities as we seek to identify and map these archaeological features. These communities can then impart their knowledge of their local landscape into the project, and in turn acquire some of the skills required to carry out the work of archaeological identification. The resulting map of their local revolutionary heritage provides them with both a resource for heritage interpretation and dissemination, and a means of appropriately managing their revolutionary landscapes into the future.

You can find out more at the dedicated project website at www.landscapesofrevolution.com.

We recently collaborated with authors Professor Joanna Brück from UCD School of Archaeology and Dr Damian Shiels to design a new guidance document titled ‘Researching & Protecting the Archaeological Heritage of the Easter Rising, War of Independence and Civil War’. The National Monuments Service and the Irish Research Council supported this document.

The guidance document is for anyone interested in learning about the material heritage of Ireland’s revolutionary period, including community and heritage groups and professionals in the planning and heritage sectors.

The Easter Rising, War of Independence and Civil War are key events in recent Irish history that have left a material legacy in the modern landscape. What is less widely recognized is that many of the Revolutionary Period’s most significant sites and landscapes survive to this day. Using a combination of archaeological and historical methods, it is possible to establish the original location of places such as safe houses, training grounds, ambush sites and barracks and to identify the extent to which these survive into the present.

This document sets out some of the rich research resources now available, considers the benefits and challenges of researching this topic, and explores ways of presenting revolutionary sites and landscapes to the public.

It is available to download here: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/26964