This monograph is the culmination of a major research initiative, the Early Medieval Research Project (EMAP), funded by a substantial five-year grant from the Heritage Council of Ireland as part of its Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) programme. It covers the whole of the island of Ireland, and concentrates on the broad early medieval (including Viking, or Hiberno-Norse) period and is one of a number of initiatives in both Ireland and Britain that have built on the recent boom in developer-funded archaeology projects that have largely produced ‘grey’ archived literature rather than full traditional publications. It therefore provides an opportunity for everyone—field archaeologists in Ireland, academics in a range of subject areas and students—to discover the rich diversity of resources that will provide the raw materials for further analysis and interpretation for years, if not decades, to come.

The monograph largely consists of a catalogue of all of the excavated settlement sites of the period, usefully illustrated in most, but not all, cases with plans and valuable bibliographic references. This is a key resource, largely replicating what is presently available via the EMAP website. The discussion section of over 100 pages again repeats some of the previous reports, but has been somewhat updated, and now stands as the current authoritative statement on the evidence base and its interpretation. The whole volume is jointly written by the team of five authors, whose range of specialisms ensures confidence in the ways in which the evidence has been collated and presented. This, however, is not a synthesis as found in single-author volumes or even in edited books with chapters by authors each with their own distinct views. In some sections, the ‘received wisdom’ interpretation, or reviews of a range of conflicting opinions, remains largely unchallenged, though this is highlighted where the new data provide an obviously different pattern. The ghost of a data review and enhancement brief, and the desire to have interpretations to which all could accede, has, one suspects, in places led to an atheoretical and uncontroversial blandness not seen in the authors’ individual writings. Hence, this book does not give a new overarching narrative or coherent viewpoint on the period and the variability and changes within it, but instead provides a valuable summary and, to a lesser extent, critique of the evidence and brief mention of existing interpretations, with, in places, a slight slant towards the authors’ own interests. It is more a synthetic resource than an interpretative argument, though some chapters are more assertive than others. This is not a criticism—it merely indicates that the descriptive title of the monograph does indeed reveal its purpose, and as such it is highly successful.

For those not familiar with Irish early medieval archaeology, some key features that greatly change our understanding as set out in the existing literature can be usefully highlighted. The first is that the diversity of known early medieval settlement forms has significantly increased through developer-led excavation, notably along linear landscape transects of roads and pipelines. As a result, a greater range of open and special-purpose sites has been identified, and the larger enclosed sites principally known from aerial photography have been investigated and found to contain, in many cases, both settlement and burial evidence, perhaps suggesting less ecclesiastical control over burial than previously assumed. The diversity in form, content and settlement biography of the traditional ringfort settlements has also become clear, and the forms of habitation associated with souterrains have expanded, although the role of these subsurface features still remains no clearer than before. Indeed, for all these new data, some activities attested in historical documents and implied from artefactual and other evidence are still largely unrepresented on sites. Moreover, the increased use of radiocarbon dating has confirmed clear differentiation between Iron Age and early medieval cultural packages, but why there was a burgeoning materiality in the early medieval period following a paucity of material culture and structural evidence in the preceding Iron Age has not been resolved. In contrast, however, the development of nucleated settlement, not only in the large enclosed settlements but also more substantial native monasteries and the Hiberno-Norse towns, is now relatively well understood. Only the recently identified and explored longphort settlements of early Viking settlement remain enigmatic; their relationship to the more permanent Viking towns that are still occupied today is not straightforward, but at least there is accumulating evidence that indicates that resolution may not be far away.

The ‘Celtic Tiger’ brought massive destruction to Ireland's archaeological resources, but this loss has been compensated by large-scale and effective mitigation strategies with numerous excavations, some on an unprecedented scale for Ireland. The subsequent economic collapse had catastrophic personal and professional effects on the archaeologists of Ireland, but this hiatus—now, it would seem, coming to an end—has given a pause in which EMAP's collation and data ordering has been possible. In perhaps a more balanced economic future, this volume will guide researchers to relevant sources, reveal to planners and heritage managers the richness and diversity of Ireland's early medieval archaeological resources, and allow the next generation of fieldwork to be contextualised within the existing evidence base. The EMAP project has been an outstanding success and this volume provides a fitting published statement of all that it has achieved.