Seán Ó Riordáin


Life
1905-1957 [Seán Padraig Ó Riordáin], b. Cork; National school teacher and later Prof. of Archaeology, UCC, then UCD; excavated Tara Hill; Cairn in Townland of Curraghbinny (1933); Recent Acquisitions from Co. Donegal in the National Museum (1935); Excavations at Lissard, Co. Limerick and other sites in the locality (1936); Fulacht Fiadha Discovery at Kilnagleary, Co. Cork (1937); Excavations at Cush, Co. Limerick (1940);
 
also issued The Excavation of Large Earthen Ring-Fort at Garranes, Co. Cork, PRIA 47C (1942), regarded as seminal research; Antiquities of the Irish Countryside (1942); an account of excavations at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick appeared in PRIA (1951); Tara, The Monuments on the Hill, pamphlet (Dundalk 1954); with Dr. Glyn Daniel, New Grange and the Bend of the Boyne (1964); appeared on BBC Brain’s Trust programmes with Sir Mortimer Wheeler. DIW DIB DIH

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Works
  • Antiquities of the Irish Countryside, illustrated by forty-seven photographs and four diagrams [Historical & archaeological papers [of] Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 4] (Cork UP 1942) [see details].
  • Lough Gur Excavations: Carraig Aille and the “Spectacles” [Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 52, C, 3 (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis 1949), 72pp. Roman Material in Ireland [Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 51, 3, [Sect. C: Archaeology, Celtic studies, history, linguistics, and literature] (Dublin: Hodges 1947), 35-82pp., ill. [pls.]
Also Sean P. O’Ríordáin and Glyn Daniel, Newgrange and the Bend in the Boyne (London: Thames & Hudson 1964).

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Criticism
See Prof. Daniel Glynne, An Appreciation of Sean O Riordain, in University Review, 2, 1 (Spring 1960), pp.59-61.

Bibliographical details
Antiquities of the Irish Countryside, illustrated by forty-seven photographs and four diagrams [Historical & archaeological papers [of] Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 4] (Cork UP 1942; 2nd Edn 1943), vii, 57pp., ill. [20pp. pls.); Do. [3rd edn.] as Antiquities of the Irish Countryside (London: Methuen 1953), xii, 108pp.; Do. [4th edn.; University Paperbacks] (London: Methuen 1964), xii,108pp., and Do. [5th edn.], with foreword by Ruairdhri de Valera (London: Methuen 1979), xx, 182pp., ill. 2 lvs. of pls.l 48pp. of pls., maps, plans]; with Daniel Glyn, New Grange and the Bend of the Boyne (London: Thames & Hudson [1964]), 218pp., ill. [maps, plans].

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References
Belfast Public Library hold Antiquities of the Irish Countryside (1942, 1953); Bronze Age Burials at Crookedwood, Co. Westmeath (1935); Excavations at Lissard, Co. Limerick (1936).

Hyland Books (Cat. 214) lists Sean P. Ó Riordáin, ‘The Halberd in Bronze Age Europe: A Study in Prehistoric Origins’, Archaeologia, vol. 86 (1937), 127pp. of 333pp.

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