SFC Award Medal

Sheela Kitchin Memorial Medal

The Sheela Kitchin Memorial Medal is awarded annually, by the Sligo Field Club to the student who achieves the highest grade in their final year of the Batchelor of Science Degree in Applied Archaeology at Sligo Institute of Technology.

2008/2009 Medal Winner: Sarah Forde

Thesis title: Dying for their King: A critical analysis of the relationship between Iron Age bog bodies and boundaries

The purpose of this thesis is to assess the relationship between the placement of Iron Age bog bodies near boundaries including townland, parish and especially barony boundaries which have been dated to the Medieval period and later periods. This theory was originally proposed by Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland, in 2006. The research for this thesis has shown that there are many gaps in the archaeological record regarding bog bodies in Ireland especially those which date to the Iron Age. In addition to this, it is difficult to prove that political and territorial boundaries originated in prehistory and that they formed the template for boundaries, formally established in the Medieval and also those from more recent times. This thesis also questions Kelly’s definition of a boundary, what constitutes a boundary and how they were marked on the landscape. Statistical analysis carried out as part of this thesis, does not support Kelly’s findings due to the insufficient records available for analysis.