Heritage Management and Research

ADCO is in a position to offer professional advice in the area of Maritime Heritage Management. The combined research skill base of the company team reflects particular strengths in medieval and post-medieval archaeology; foreshore and lacustrine archaeology; shipwreck archaeology; ports and harbour development archaeology; and archaeological diver training.

In conjunction with the Discovery Programme, ADCO has been awarded one of the prestigious 2008 INSTAR grants by the Heritage Council. The grants are provided by the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, with an express aim of building research collaborations between private sector and public sector archaeologists in Ireland. ADCO's research is the Littoral Archaeology Project (LAP), which is concerned with considering the impact of development activities on the coastal environment. The absence of the systematic integration of archaeologically licensed work with more mainstream discussions of the maritime zone presents an opportunity to contribute new data for research on maritime cultural heritage. LAP 2008 is a pilot study that seeks to assemble what information is available for the coastline from Carlingford Lough in the northeast, to Carnsore Point in the Southeast. In addition to licensed excavations, the primary data includes detection device and dive survey licensed work, as well as a study of published Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and County and Port Authority development plans, which may consider present and proposed impacts along the coastal belt.

The project got under way in April 2008. The project is to develop two levels of interrogation. On the one hand, an appraisal of the information that is available throughout the study area will inform general trends of archaeological  work and developmental proposals. It is hoped, for instance, to show the patterns of archaeological endeavour in terms of licensing by mapping where licensed work has been conducted and by showing its development through time (c. 1980 to 2004). The absorption of this data as knowledge, however, is perhaps of greater importance and the project will assess the degree to which the data can illuminate discussions relating to Ireland’s maritime cultural heritage.

The project’s second level of interrogation is to focus on a series of two case studies that are defined by topography. The estuary of the River Boyne at Drogheda and the coastal belt to its north and south will form one case study, highlighting activity in the northern half of the study area. The estuary of the Avoca River at Arklow and its littoral area north and south will form a second case study that considers the southern half of the study area. The parameters of the case studies may change as the project develops, to reflect the most useful interrogation of the information within the time allotted.

LAP 2008 will submit a detailed report tothe Heritage Council in November 2008, and a paper will be extracted from this for submission to the International Journal of of Nautical Archaeology. The primary researchers are Drs Niall Brady and Edward Pollard.

Environmental Impact Assessment

Intertidal Survey  

Geophysical Data Interpretation

Monitoring

Underwater Excavation

Heritage Management and Research