Irish Archaeologist in Residence at SLU
10/13/2017
The Walter J. Ong, S.J., Center for Digital Humanities and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies has welcomed Kieran O’ Conor, Ph.D., a leading Medieval archaeologist from the National University of Ireland-Galway (NIU), as a scholar-in-residence at SLU for the 2017-2018 academic year.
O’Conor is a senior lecturer in archaeology and comes to SU as part of the Archaeological Institute of America’s Kress Lectureship. He will deliver a lecture for the institute’s St. Louis chapter at the Missouri History Museum at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
O'Conor worked during much of the 1990s for the Archaeological Survey Branch of the National Monuments Service (Dúchas - the Irish Heritage Service) in Counties Roscommon, Sligo, Longford, Westmeath and Wexford. In 1996, he excavated Carlow Castle. O’Conor has also taken part in excavations and field surveys in England, Wales, mainland Greece and Crete. He was appointed a research fellow at the Discovery Programme in 1997 and was then made director of Medieval Rural Settlement project there in early 1999.
On faculty at NIU since 2000, he has published widely on the subjects of castles, medieval rural settlement, elite settlement in high medieval Gaelic Ireland and medieval landscapes. O’Conor also serves as English language editor of the international peer-reviewed journal, Chateau Gaillard.
While in residence at SLU, he will be working on several publications related to castles and fortifications in Ireland as well as and meeting with graduate students who work in Ireland and or conduct research on castles.