The Season 2 Blackfriary excavations finished up in September 2011, and will reopen for excavation in May 2012, but what to do in the mean time I hear you ask?
Post excavation!
Post excavation involves looking at the detailed records made during the excavation including record sheets, registers, photographs, plans, artefacts, environmental samples and site notebooks. These records must be collated and the results analysed in order to produce a stratigraphic record of the site, and to propose an interpretation of the archaeology.
Some of this work will be carried out as part of a winter module in post excavation; this module will introduce students to the principles of post-excavation analysis, including the role of the archaeological specialist, how specialist analysis informs the excavation report, and give students hands-on experience in the collation of excavation records and the interpretation of archaeological excavation results.
Students will carry out work on the Blackfriary excavation material and make a contribution to the site stratigraphic report. As part of that we will be visiting conservation labs, looking at comparable collections and experimenting with different methodologies to assess and interpret the data. Stay tuned for updates 
*see http://www.iafs.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=56
Recommended reading:
Green, K. and Moore, T. 2010, Archaeology, An Introduction, 5th Ed., Routledge Oxford [ISBN:978-0-415-49639-1]
Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. 2008, Archaeology: Theory, Methods and Practice, 5th Ed., Thames & Hudson London [ISBN:978-0500287132]
Museum of London 1990, Archaeological Site Manual, 2nd Ed., Museum of London London [ISBN:978-0904818406]
Roskams, S. 2001, Excavation (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology), 1st Ed., Cambridge
University Press Cambridge [ISBN: 978-0521798013]
Drewett, P. 2011, Field Archaeology: An Introduction, 2nd Ed., Routledge London [ISBN:978-0415551199]
