This is a well-written and accessible volume providing detailed analyses of the Ballyhanna Research Project (BRP). The book presents a rich contextual biocultural study of the community buried at the Ballyhanna church and graveyard on the banks of the Erne River in Ballyshannon in the north-west of Ireland. The overall aim of the BRP was to investigate the lives, deaths and burial traditions of this Gaelic community. The authors meet this aim through a multi-pronged and detailed historical, archaeological and bioarchaeological investigation. Significantly, this project represents the largest bioarchaeological study ever undertaken in Ireland, examining the skeletons of 1296 women, men and children buried over the best part of a millennium, starting in the late seventh/early eighth century AD. In addition to being a scientifically robust and well-contextualised archaeological and bioarchaeological study, the accessible and jargon-free language employed by most of the contributors makes this volume a pleasure to read. The use of evocative drawings of burials to illustrate each chapter provides an emotive link to the individual life-histories of the population.

MacDonagh provides a detailed introduction to the rediscovered graveyard of Ballyhanna and its excavation, providing geographic and historical information about the site, explaining the reasons for its ‘loss’ and detailing its history following disuse. In the next chapter, Donnelly contextualises the lives of the people of medieval Ballyhanna, drawing on a broad range of textual and archaeological information on economy, housing, settlement, diet and warfare.

MacDonald and Carver provide a detailed and careful account of the archaeological analyses, including the history of the excavations, extensive radiocarbon dating, and information on stratigraphy, grave orientation and grave goods. These analyses show that the graveyard was in use from the late seventh/early eighth century through to the early seventeenth century AD, with a hiatus in activity from the early eleventh to the second half of the twelfth century.

McKenzie presents a clear outline of the bioarchaeological and palaeopathological investigation of the adults from the site. Appropriately, the data on preservation and demography for this part of the cemetery sample are presented first, followed by the dependent palaeopathological analyses. Although the inclusion of the palaeodemographic and palaeopathological data for the infants and children (discussed separately in the following chapter) could have been usefully incorporated with the adult data, this separation was one probably of necessity for such a large research project. One of the main findings from the palaeodemographic analyses is the high proportion of young adults, which McKenzie argues would have affected infants and children, as many would have lost one or both of their parents. The author presents evidence for diet, based on oral pathologies, which may indicate a mixed subsistence regime. Tuberculosis is the only specific infectious disease that could be identified in the adults, a disease that would probably have had a significant impact on the health of the community. Evidence for accidental trauma, interpersonal violence, activity patterns, medical treatment and disability is also presented.

The following chapter by Murphy outlines the palaeodemographic and palaeopathological investigation of the infants and children. The chapter starts with an emotive depiction of a young adult female buried with a full-term foetus within her abdomen, probably representing her death during childbirth. This illustration works effectively to bridge the young-adult mortality findings from the previous chapter with the perinatal mortality findings presented here. The detailed demographic investigation shows that the highest mortality in infancy occurs during the perinatal period, but with the greatest sub-adult mortality overall occurring between one and six years of age, which is similar to contemporary Irish and English sites. A comparative analysis of skeletal development at Ballyhanna is also similar to these contemporary sites. Skeletal indicators for rickets and tuberculosis indicate health problems within the community. The dangers of childbirth, already noted above, are reinforced through other evocative case studies, including a woman buried with newborn twins. Refreshingly, this chapter also engages with the emotional experience of infant and child loss in this society, the social roles of children and Gaelic child-rearing practices.

McCarthy presents a brief chapter on the study of the disarticulated human remains at the site. Although a challenging endeavour, these analyses provide useful demographic and health information for the individuals studied. The chapter by Tierney and Bird provides an overview of the methods and preliminary results of ancient DNA analyses on some of the individuals from the site, including sex determination and Mycobacterium studies. McGowan and Bashir present multiple chemical analyses from a select sample of burials, including trace element and stable isotope analyses to investigate diet. The authors state that strontium isotope work and the development of local food webs will be essential for future chemical work on these individuals. Although unmentioned, there is also an opportunity here for an examination of infant and childhood diet and weaning, which may inform understanding of childcare practices and metabolic disease.

The final chapter by the editors provides a sophisticated overview of the archaeological and palaeopathological investigation interwoven with individual life-history stories. The hardships indicated through high young-adult mortality, infectious and metabolic disease, and medical treatment are summarised within a rich framework of changing social and political economy, and are informed by data on the care of children and the elderly.

I highly recommend this book to students, archaeologists and bioarchaeologists as an excellent example of a socially and historically grounded study of the lives, and deaths, of the people of a past community. Its accessible nature means that this book will also be of interest to a broad general audience. The importance placed on public dissemination of the BRP's results is also demonstrated through the supplementary photographs, lectures, popular articles and interviews provided in an appendix. Further data on the archaeological finds, final excavation reports and photographic surveys are included on a CD-ROM.