This is the second of two videos by Keith Currams that document the excavation and conservation of two prehistoric urn burials that were discovered on a site in the townland of Quarry, near Ferns in north County Wexford, in July 2014. This video documents the work of conservator Susannah Kelly. Following on-site excavation the urns were taken to the conservation laboratory in the UCD School of Archaeology at University College Dublin. Both urns and their contents were excavated and conserved in the laboratory. The conservator’s work allows the maximum amount of data to be recovered about the contents of the urns and ensures that these almost four thousand year old ceramic vessels are consolidated. This means that they can be studied and recorded and could potentially be placed in a museum display in the future. The urns were examined by prehistoric pottery experts Dr Eoin Grogan and Helen Roche; they concluded that both were examples of a type of vessel known as a collared urn. There are at least 60 examples of this type of vessel from Ireland, they are generally found along the east coast, mostly in the north-eastern counties, but with a scattered distribution in the south-east. This is only the second time that collared urns have been found in County Wexford. The excavation and conservation was undertaken on behalf of Wexford County Council and TII (formerly NRA). The archaeological costs were fully funded by TII.
View the first video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smPib...
