Achill Field School

The Achill Archaeological Field School was founded in 1991 as a Training School for students of archaeology and anthropology. The Field School is based at the Achill Archaeology Centre in Dooagh and at the Deserted Village of Slievemore, both of which are located in the West of Ireland on Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland.

Academic Credit for overseas students is provided by the National University of Ireland at Galway with whom the school has formal linkage.

The Deserted Village Project commenced in 1991 with the research objective of completing a thorough archaeological survey of all sites and monuments (prehistoric and historic) that make up the diverse and significant archaeological landscape of Slievemore.

Excavation of selected dwellings and their associated gardens has been an integral part of the fieldwork since 1991, and represents a pioneering effort at addressing the material lives of a much-neglected segment of Irish society. Since 1991, several thousand students from 21 countries have come to Achill to study archaeology and to learn about the people who lived in the village through their material remains.

In 2008, the Field School continued with the excavations at House 23 in the Deserted Village, the nearby semi-subterranean megalithic structure and overlying roadway, and round house of probable prehistoric date on Slievemore Mountain.