Go Niche

HOW CAN people who spend their days chained to a desk or plugged into a computer even consider spending their holiday in an equally sedentary position?

Coal miners need two weeks on a sun lounger, perhaps. Or acrobats. What the rest of us need is to give out bodies a break by using them.

It’s why the most appealing holiday option this desk-jockey came across all summer is that offered by the Irish Archaeological Field School.

It gives holiday making nine-to-fivers the chance to spend their holiday helping out on a real, live archaeological dig.

Though of particular interest to third level archaeology students, the holidays are open to any interested party with the cash to spare (€550 a week) and a willingness to learn.

It is wholly hands on and participants learn not just a basic introduction to archaeology but practical stuff about the lay-out of excavation grids, techniques such as trowelling and sifting and how to record finds.

The IAFS has excavated more than 50 important sites over the past decade, including the medieval settlement at Raystown, Co Meath, the prehistoric trackway complex at Edercloon, Co Longford and the Hillfort at Rahally, in Galway.

This summer it is excavating the grounds around Bective Abbey, a Cistercian complex founded in 1147, trying to figure out what lies beneath from clues such as changes in the soil colour and fragments of pottery.

What they’re really hoping to find is a chalice, such as that found at Ardagh. What a buzz to be part of that.

And even if you don’t find any such thing, you’ll have fun trying – the atmosphere is terrific.

• culturaltourismireland.ie