Meet Ireland’s Most Intriguing Local Characters - Part 1

Hiking prehistoric landscapes to peel back the layers of time

One such person is renowned archeologist Michael Gibbons. Born in a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) community, his mother was a local historian who handed down oral stories and his father worked abroad. Between the two of them, he learned not to take the landscape for granted, and he spent his childhood exploring the landscapes of his hometown – all of which led to him becoming an archeologist. He’s worked on digs and in antiquities museums all over the world – London, Greece, Jerusalem, Turkey – but it’s always Ireland that pulls him back.

Michael Gibbons spots the sites that no one else notices. “My goal is to show people a long lens view of the Irish landscapes,” Gibbons explains. “On a single hike, I take visitors through prehistoric landscapes, ancient monuments, Neolithic tombs, iron age burials and forts, and an abandoned village – bringing the landscapes alive and active. It is an immersive and fun learning experience – and that’s just one hike!” he says, as he shares with visitors his gift for being able to read the long history of a landscape simply by hiking through it.

The amazing tombs at Carrowkeel in Co Sligo, one of Gibbons’ favourite places. He can see the remains of ancient villages where no one else can.

Once Michael Gibbons gets started talking about his passion for archeology, there’s no stopping him – and there’s no telling what you may learn. No matter how many times you might have seen a  landscape, Michael Gibbons will change the way that you see it. No dry archaeology – he describes the ancient civilisations and why they might have decided to carry dozens of boulders to the top of a hill and arrange them in a particular way. And it’s not just the ancient people that bring an academic sparkle to his eye – Gibbons also studies holy landscapes such as pilgrimages, holy wells, and sacred mountains – and notably the all-important pilgrimage trails that lead to them.

Another interest is studying Irish mythology to interpret landscapes. One great example are the beds of Diarmuit and Grainne – Diarmuit was a warrior in the Fianna, Grainne was his wife. They eloped, which turned out to be a bad idea as they were chased all over Ireland – wherever they slept was called a bed. There are hundreds of places called beds all over Ireland! In fact, often these are neolithic tombs. So through Irish folklore, which goes back about 1500 years, we can study even older Irish history.

Anglicisation of Irish names saved the names into landscapes here, he claims. Superstition, too, preserved the landscapes, the Irish heritage. “I was up on Inishmann yesterday,” Gibbons recounts. “And one of the clients was asking about fairies, if I have ever seen one? Of course I hadn’t, but I could show her the fairy forts and the ancient settlements that constituted their houses. Throughout history, and even today, you know that farmers won’t go near or touch them, since people are still wary. Fields will be ploughed around these fairy forts, roads built not just along natural obstructions, but also to avoid destroying the fairy forts.”