List of Contents Contributors vii Acknowledgments x Introduction xi (Eileen MF Murphy and Nicki JF Whitehouse) SECTION I DATING Chapter 1 Radiocarbon Dating: A Practical Overview 1 (Philip Barratt and Paula JF Reimer) Chapter 2 Dendrochronology and Lessons Learned from Irish Examples 18 (David MF Brown and Mike GF LF Baillie) Chapter 3 The Use of Tephra in Linking European Sequences of 37 Terrestrial, Lacustrine, Marine and Ice Palaeoenvironmental Records (Jon RF Pilcher) SECTION II HUMANS and ANIMALS Chapter 4 Human Osteoarchaeology in Ireland 48 (Eileen MF Murphy) Chapter 5 Mammal Bones from Prehistoric Irish Sites 77 (Finbar McCormick) Chapter 6 Exploitation of Birds and Fish in Historic Ireland: 102 A Brief Review of the Evidence (Sheila Hamilton-Dyer) Chapter 7 Molluscs and Middens: The Archaeology of Irelands 119 Early Savage Race? (Emily VF Murray) Chapter 8 The Study of Fossil Insect Remains in Environmental 136 and Archaeological Investigations: An Irish Perspective (Nicki JF Whitehouse)