Ballykilcline, Strokestown, County Roscommon, western Ireland-Few people live in Ballykilcline anymore. Since the Cromwellian colonization of western Ireland, tenant farmers here had worked the fields of the English Mahon family. When the family defaulted on their lease, the Crown took over their lands, and, during The Great Starvation (The Potato Famine of 1845-48), the English landlords forcibly evicted the tenant farmers. Most of these farmers and their impoverished families emigrated to England and the United States; many died of starvation and disease.

According to historical records, in 1847 Ballykilcline was a hamlet of more than 500 souls. Today it still stands undisturbed as a mute testament to the horrors of that time. Its mud-and-stone houses, however, harbor artifacts that speak volumes about those desperate lives, largely forgotten by official history. But not by Illinois State University anthropologist Dr. Charles Orser. In 1995, Orser had directed Earthwatch volunteers unearthing clues to pre-famine history and peasant society in a similar settlement nearby: Gorttoose village. But, unlike Gorttoose, Ballykilcline, once abandoned, was not disturbed. Already Ballykilcline has yielded "truly amazing artifacts," says Orser, such as hand-repaired dishes, Irish-made crockery, even some coins-and plenty of local support channeled into the Center for the Study of Rural Ireland, which Orser founded. The Center now has offices both in Ireland and at Illinois State University. Besides his appointment there, Orser also holds an adjunct archaeology position at the National University of Ireland in Galway. He needs your help to piece together the structure and fabric of this community from the evidence that former residents left behind.

Besides exploring, documenting, and excavating a number of house sites at Ballykilcline, you'll wash and catalog plentiful, well-preserved artifacts at the lab. Your finds this summer will help Orser plan for future historical research to supplement the on-site investigations. What you discover about how these tenant farmer families scraped together a living may touch you in more ways than you would expect.

Field Conditions: Stationed at the quiet Bawn Lodge in Strokestown, you'll eat dinner at-irony aside-the fine Strokestown Famine Museum Restaurant. In the midst of rolling hills framed by blue-tinged mountains, you'll enjoy lunches near the site at the 19th-century Glebe House, whose owner prepares the food. The local people are enthusiastic about your efforts to uncover their history.

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