9th October 2009

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University of Ulster research is revealing Rathlin Island’s hidden history and deep sea secrets from Malin Head to Torr Head.
 
Excavations on Rathlin have found ornate pottery and polished axe heads from prehistoric times and a thriving smuggling industry of just a couple of centuries ago.
 
A seabed survey along a wide stretch of the north coast has pinpointed previously unmarked shipwrecks sites.
 
Dr Wes Forsythe, of the University’s Centre for Maritime Archaeology (CMA), says:
 “We’ve looked at coastal caves and found evidence of Bronze Age habitation there, along with flints and very well decorated pottery - very fine work.
 
“It was really good quality and in fact our pottery expert in Dublin told us it was ‘the Waterford crystal of Irish prehistory’ in terms of how good it was.”
 
Maritime archaeologists are building up a picture of what life was like for the people of Rathlin in the long distant past when the seas around them were their world and their access route to trade and communication.
 
Details of the research into thousands of years of human interaction with the sea and connections with Ireland and Scotland are expected to be published by 2011.
 
Tell-tale signs of smuggling include storage areas in coastal caves and false walls in smugglers’ houses for hiding contraband from the excise men. “This was in the 18th century when there were different tax regimes between Scotland and Ireland. It was their equivalent of today’s cross-border smuggling,” Dr Forsythe quipped. 
 
Using the latest ultra-sensitive depth sound equipment, his team has been able to get unparalleled insights into the nature of the seabed from north Donegal across to the Antrim coast. They are tracing millennia of coastal change and for the first time locating several shipwrecks probably from World War Two more than 100 metres down.
 
Dr Forsythe says: “It’s a very big survey, from Malin Head in Donegal to Torr Head to around Rathlin, and it has allowed us to build up a very detailed picture of the kind of coastal processes that are going on – what areas are rocky, what  are the areas you’d get big sand waves in etc.”
 
Fellow maritime archaeologist Dr Colin Breen says the CMA’s work is not only building up knowledge of the past but also impacting on current environmental issues such as how to combat coastal erosion.
 
Conserving human heritage and strengthening Northern Ireland’s tourism product are among the key present day results of the work, he explains.
 
“We are currently excavating a 16th century settlement in a field beside Dunluce Castle. It is a tiny part of what was a 12 acre town built by the Earls of Antrim, the McDonnells, to develop the huge amount of trade then with Scotland.
 
“Much of what we are doing, particularly the seabed survey, is building up a lot of really good primary data which, for the first time, substantiates changes that have taken place in the marine environment, the coastal and seabed environment over the past 10,000 years. That has direct relevance for contemporary society.
 
“We are looking at the development of the cultural character of the peoples of Ulster. Our work is all about looking at past cultural identity, past communications and past trade and telling the broader story of the people of Ulster over the past 10,000 years.”

For further information, please contact:

David Young
Telephone: 028 90366074
Email: David Young