{"id":613158,"date":"2025-12-05T05:18:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T05:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613158\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T05:18:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T05:18:26","slug":"prehistoric-artifacts-found-amid-search-for-long-lost-irish-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613158\/","title":{"rendered":"Prehistoric artifacts found amid search for long-lost Irish castle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Archaeologists in Northern Ireland went out seeking a\u00a0400-year-old castle\u00a0\u2014 and ended up finding things that are much older, thanks to the little kids working with them.<\/p>\n<p>In an October statement, Queen\u2019s University Belfast (QUB) said that its archaeologists conducted a two-week excavation to uncover Derrygonnelly Castle in Fermanagh.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 250 schoolchildren \u2014 some from a girls\u2019 Lego construction team \u2014 and 35 adult volunteers helped search for the once-magnificent structure that has eluded archaeologists so far.<\/p>\n<p>Built in the 17th century, Derrygonnelly Castle was abandoned by the 1800s. QUB professor Eileen Murphy told Fox News Digital the structure \u201cwas erased from the landscape\u201d and largely forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>During the dig, students found numerous artifacts from the 19th century, including clay pipe fragments, a possible half-penny from the\u00a0Glorious Revolution\u00a0and a 17th-century ditch built to protect the castle while it was being built.<\/p>\n<p>But the\u00a0most surprising findings\u00a0were the oldest. These were flint and chert tools from the Early <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/27\/world-news\/researchers-uncover-stone-age-settlement-submerged-by-rising-sea-levels-in-denmark\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mesolithic era<\/a>, over 9,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Schoolchildren and adult volunteers helped search for the Derrygonnelly Castle in Fermanagh. QUB \u2013 Archaeology at Queen&#8217;s \/ Facebook<\/p>\n<p>The students found numerous artifacts from the 19th century, including clay pipe fragments. QUB \u2013 Archaeology at Queen&#8217;s \/ Facebook<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe nature of these tells us that these hunter-gatherer people were actually living at this location and probably had a seasonal camp there,\u201d the professor said.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy described the finds as \u201chugely exciting and unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>She added, \u201cThese are the first Early Mesolithic remains to have been found in County Fermanagh to date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo add to the excitement, we also found evidence of a prehistoric round house,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can date this to the\u00a0Early <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/13\/science\/archaeologists-reveal-ritual-objects-tied-to-ancient-biblical-cult\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bronze Age<\/a> period, around 4,000 years ago, because we found a large fragment of diagnostic pottery at the base of one of the post-holes of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Queen\u2019s University Belfast professor Eileen Murphy hopes the children \u201cwill remember this feeling, and appreciate and care for the monuments they encounter, potentially on their own land, in the future.\u201d QUB \u2013 Archaeology at Queen&#8217;s \/ Facebook<\/p>\n<p>Given that the 17th-century artifacts appear to be high-status items \u2014 including the stem of a wine goblet and imported pottery\u00a0from England\u00a0\u2014 Murphy believes many of them were associated with the castle.<\/p>\n<p>Historical accounts of the castle show that it had\u00a0a \u201cpretty garden,\u201d\u00a0an orchard filled with fruit trees and a grand three-story tower.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a great sense of camaraderie [during] the excavation, and it seems to have been a\u00a0positive experience\u00a0that will have enhanced the overall well-being of those involved,\u201d Murphy said. QUB \u2013 Archaeology at Queen&#8217;s \/ Facebook<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was fantastic that the volunteers found so many artifacts,\u201d said Murphy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an indication that the castle complex would have been a bustling place in its heyday, since it left so many material remains for us to discover.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Murphy also credited the Community Archaeology Programme Northern Ireland (CAPNI), a National Lottery Heritage Fund initiative, for making the excavation possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt helped give the local people a sense of pride in their landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that she hoped the children involved \u201cwill remember this feeling, and appreciate and care for the monuments they encounter, potentially on their own land, in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a great sense of camaraderie [during] the excavation, and it seems to have been a\u00a0positive experience\u00a0that will have enhanced the overall well-being of those involved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeologists in Northern Ireland went out seeking a\u00a0400-year-old castle\u00a0\u2014 and ended up finding things that are much older,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2397,55632,2348,678,1144,857,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-613158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-archaeology","9":"tag-castle","10":"tag-history","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-schools","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115665273091544145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}