Brew

Journal of Irish Archaeology vol 22, 2014

Recent studies and experiments in Irish archaeology have greatly increased the available knowledge on the features generally described as grain drying kilns. Based on these studies, a typological framework has been established (www.emap.ie) to categorise kilns and to easier apportion different forms to different periods (ie. Keyhole, Figure of Eight, Dumb-bell and Pit/Irregular shaped). The excavation of an unusual later medieval kiln with a roughly T-shaped flue in the townland of Folkstown Great near Balbriggan does not however fit easily into this typological model. Three features which may be classified as ‘Pit Kilns’ according to the above typology were excavated nearby and yielded comparable medieval ceramic fragments and C14 date ranges to the T-shaped example. When the environmental samples were analysed, significant variations in the plant macrofossil assemblages were noted between the pit kilns and the T-shaped kiln. The particular morphology of the T-shaped kiln is here discussed and the kiln is regarded in the context of the wider archaeological signature of the area. This paper then contends that the T-shaped kiln was specifically designed to carry out a range of functions above and beyond that carried out at the conventional Pit-Kilns on site and finally proposes a function associated with the process of drying malted barley for the purpose of brewing ale. This suggestion is discussed in conjunction with several enigmatic mortar lined pits located nearby. Finally the ensemble of features is considered as a potential malting/brewing complex capable of producing large quantities of ale.

Cooking with Plants in Ancient Europe and Beyond: Interdisciplinary approaches to the archaeology of plant foods, 2022

Archaeologically and historically derived sources of evidence about the cultural evolutionary and socio-economic history of the production and consumption of ancient alcohol have been significantly increased recently by breakthroughs in various areas of scientific analysis. At the same time public interest in craft brews and other forms of culturally enriched alcoholic beverages in west-central Europe and the Americas has resulted in an unprecedented appetite for research-based information about their origins and cultural foundations. This presents an opportunity for archaeologists and historians to partner with researchers in chemistry, agriculture, biology and the brewing industry in developing outreach initiatives whose goals include educating the general public about the disciplines involved in the study of the science and culture of ancient alcohol. The pedagogical potential of partnerships between universities and local museums, breweries and other businesses in the study of ancient alcohol is illustrated by a recent initiative developed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also known as Brew City, USA. Free download: https://www.sidestone.com/books/cooking-with-plants-in-ancient-europe-and-beyond

MSt Building History University of Cambridge, 2012

The relationship of the staircase to the Hall over the medieval to L17C has changed with the stair being unseen and then gradually became the central wooden framework exhibiting elaborately painted grissaille and wooden carvings of heraldry. The configuration of the stair and its newel post was first the central structure of a newel spiral stair and then one and the same with the handrail.

Post-Medieval Archaeology

2019

Since the 1970s, the craft brewing industry has grown in popularity. However, with the introduction of the Internet and the consequent globalization of cultures and economies, craft beer marketing has increasingly evoked the medieval past in order to appeal to our collective sense of a lost community, and even a lost purity. This book discusses the desire for the local, the non-corporate, and the pre-modern in the discourse of craft brewing, which has become a form of ideological resistance to corporate capitalism, forming a strong counter-cultural narrative. However, such discourses also reinforce colonial histories of purity and conquest while effacing indigenous voices, and there are troubling intersections between the desire for a medieval past and the desire to preserve the imaginary ŸwhitenessŒ of that past. Such considerations are particularly relevant now, during a time in which white nationalist groups (many of which turn to a medieval past for inspiration) are increasing in influence and visibility. Moving from beer in the Middle Ages to beer in 2019, this book deploys analysis of literary and historical texts, advertisements, labels, and interviews with craft brewers and writers to argue that craft beer is much more than a delicious drink and a social connector; its marketing, its appeal, and its ubiquitous presence in middle class North America reveals a powerful cultural desire for the past in a world that privileges the present.

2017

Alcohol has been a part of the human diet for millennia, however little analysis has been done on the origins of large-scale production, specifically in Europe. The rise of agriculture in Europe during the Neolithic revolution brought about a greater availability of food and the allowance for specialized skills. Naturally, one of these skills was that of brewing. Examining four different sites from Neolithic Europe, correlations and connections are made to suggest possibilities of the cultural role of alcohol in its production, consumption, and ritualization.

The roji, literally "dewy path" to the tea house, provides the guest at a Japanese Tea Ceremony to purify ones self -- body and mind -- so that upon entering the tiny space, one is stripped of worldly cares and able to accept a bowl of tea with full gratitude to its ultimate source.

Chapter that documents and contextualises a performative walk that I led around Shoreditch as part of the This Is Not A Gateway symposium in 2010. It was published in Critical Cities volume 3. The walk and chapter were a consideration of the implications of Hackney Council declaring itself a Designated Public Place (DPP), under the provision of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. This gives the police powers to fine and/or confiscate the alcohol of people who are engaging in "antisocial drinking" in a DPP.

2008

2014