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Undergraduate Texts

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  • 04-10-2010 2:04pm
    #1
    wiblick
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭


    Can any first years tell me what text book they are using, NUI Galway helpfully lists all their undergraduate books within the various topics e.g.:

    http://www.nuigalway.ie/archaeology/Undergraduate_Program/First_Year/113_prehistoric_ireland_and_europe.html

    and I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what other undergrads are using - particularly for Irish Archaeology.
    I have Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice by Bahn & Renfrew and the text the Open Uni use for theory The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies by Chris Scarre

    Is there any general introduction to Irish Archaeology being used in the colleges here?

    Thanks

    Aoife


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    #2
    happyoutscan
    Registered Users Posts: 5,994 ✭✭✭happyoutscan


    For Irish Prehistory John Waddells The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland is a fantastic book.


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    #3
    wiblick
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭wiblick


    yes it's the one mentioned by NUI Galway, and I probably will get it. I just found it a bit odd that Waterstones & Hodges Figgis don't stock it, and in the case of Waterstones never have, I can order it from Wordwell of course.

    I suppose my question is what are the Dublin colleges using for Irish archaeology because they don't seem to be using Waddell.


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    #4
    happyoutscan
    Registered Users Posts: 5,994 ✭✭✭happyoutscan


    wiblick wrote: »
    yes it's the one mentioned by NUI Galway, and I probably will get it. I just found it a bit odd that Waterstones & Hodges Figgis don't stock it, and in the case of Waterstones never have, I can order it from Wordwell of course.

    I suppose my question is what are the Dublin colleges using for Irish archaeology because they don't seem to be using Waddell.

    You can get it from the campus bookshop or you might be able to get a used copy from Charlie Byrnes in town. I wouldn't worry about what the Dublin Colleges are using as their syllabus is probably different to your own.


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    #5
    Smartypantsdig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 116 ✭✭Smartypantsdig


    I would strongly recommend Gabriel Cooney's work "The Neolithic Landscape of Ireland" and the the volume he produced with Eoin Grogan, the title of which escapes me at present but it deals with theories on the social organisation of society in Ireland up to the late Iron Age.

    In my undergrad years we had a core work "Ireland in Prehistory" by Herity and Eogan... avoid this at all costs! Unless you want to discuss how the evidence of excavation should really be applied!


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    #6
    trowelled
    Registered Users Posts: 3,290 ✭✭✭trowelled


    Smartypantsdig wrote: »
    I would strongly recommend Gabriel Cooney's work "The Neolithic Landscape of Ireland" and the the volume he produced with Eoin Grogan, the title of which escapes me at present but it deals with theories on the social organisation of society in Ireland up to the late Iron Age.

    In my undergrad years we had a core work "Ireland in Prehistory" by Herity and Eogan... avoid this at all costs! Unless you want to discuss how the evidence of excavation should really be applied!

    Irish Prehistory: A Social Perspective. I used this a lot while doing my BA, very useful indeed. I agree wit you on Cooney's Neolithic book also.

    UCD recommended Waddell's book to us when I was doing my BA (2002-2005). I have it upstairs but it's not a book I ever studied intently. I've only ever glanced through it. I don't know what it was about it but I just couldn't bring myself to read it. I've a feeling I picked it up in Hodges and Figis but that was back in 2002.


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    #7
    Riamfada
    Registered Users Posts: 10,246 ✭✭✭✭Riamfada


    All you prehistorians and your stones! :rolleyes:;)

    Nancy Edwards - The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland has saved more than one first year ass on a late assignement and crucified any postgrad who dared consult it! Good book though. Alternatively try the updated Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland 400-1000AD by Lloyd Laing. Both good introductions to the E.Med.

    I know they dont apply to that module ... but they do to some module. I just have to get a word in for the E.Med


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    #8
    trowelled
    Registered Users Posts: 3,290 ✭✭✭trowelled


    Well I'm really a Medievalist at heart. T.B Barry's 'The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland' and Tadhg O'Keeffe's 'Medieval Ireland:An Archaeology were godsends. I was able to get Barry's no problem but O'Keeffe's was tricky to get my hands on.


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    #9
    uncle ernie
    Registered Users Posts: 405 ✭✭uncle ernie


    Pagan Celtic Ireland by Barry Raftery was indespensable throughout my college years


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    #10
    Smartypantsdig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 116 ✭✭Smartypantsdig


    trowelled wrote: »
    Well I'm really a Medievalist at heart. T.B Barry's 'The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland' and Tadhg O'Keeffe's 'Medieval Ireland:An Archaeology were godsends. I was able to get Barry's no problem but O'Keeffe's was tricky to get my hands on.

    O'Keeffe's work is out of print unfortunately. It is a wonderful text.


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    #11
    trowelled
    Registered Users Posts: 3,290 ✭✭✭trowelled


    Smartypantsdig wrote: »
    O'Keeffe's work is out of print unfortunately. It is a wonderful text.

    Now you say it, I think it was on the way out when I got my hands on it. That's obviously why I had such difficulty getting it. It is a fantastic read, as his book on Round Towers.


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    #12
    katarin
    Registered Users Posts: 137 ✭✭katarin


    Greene, Kevin and Moore, Tom. (2010). Archaeology: an Introduction.
    Johnson, M. (1999). Archaeological Theory: An Introduction.
    Trigger, Bruce. (1990). A History of Archaeological Thought.

    That Chris Scarre book is a decent read, but I wouldn't consider it an undergrad textbook..


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    #13
    Smartypantsdig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 116 ✭✭Smartypantsdig


    Matthew Johnson's book is a bloody good read! He has the right balance between getting the theory across but in as light a way as possible... especially how he describes post-processual and phenomonology :P!


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    #14
    Riamfada
    Registered Users Posts: 10,246 ✭✭✭✭Riamfada


    Smartypantsdig wrote: »
    post-processual and phenomonology :P!

    Lick the stones and smell the motorway :p


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    #15
    wiblick
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭wiblick


    never got notifications about these later responses. Thanks everyone. I see Wordwell's website is back up and running so I'll be able to get the Waddell book and put the rest into wish lists etc. on Amazon.

    Thanks again, some really interesting titles I hadn't heard of, and some I own already. I'm not studying Archaeology at the moment, doing a history degree, but have an interest and did a couple of modules on general archaeology so just wanted to know what undergrads here were using for specifically Irish pre-history.

    Thanks again and sorry for not responding sooner. [and if I had 10+ posts I'd thank you all individually...]

    Aoife


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    #16
    Seraphina
    Registered Users Posts: 2,875 ✭✭✭Seraphina


    Smartypantsdig wrote: »
    Matthew Johnson's book is a bloody good read! He has the right balance between getting the theory across but in as light a way as possible... especially how he describes post-processual and phenomonology :P!

    +11111

    I did a postgrad at the University of Southampton, and I swear I never understood a lot of the theory properly until we had a few lectures with him, so I'd definitely recommend it.


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    #17
    katarin
    Registered Users Posts: 137 ✭✭katarin


    He's one of the best, alright. Six years into studying archaeology and I still go back to him.

    Aoife, even if you're doing a history degree, it's really useful to get an interdisciplinary perspective. It keeps you from reinventing the wheel, so to speak, and also gives a more rounded perspective when it comes to assesing the validity of theory in your own discipline.


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