I Am Just Going Outside and May Be Some Time….The Rubicon Christmas Field Trip

Some months ago we brought you the intrepid adventures of some of our office-based archaeologists, who struggled with the reality of suddenly being thrust back into the field for excavation duties.

 Entitled Legion of the Damned, the post charted the optimism, enthusiasm and ultimately the bodily destruction of those involved.
As today is our Christmas Party we decided to treat everyone in the office to a site visit. The destination- our excavations at Caherduggan Castle. It was a mixed bag- among the motley crew were some wizened and battle hardened field archaeologists, some who haven’t seen a field since going to John B. Keane’s play as part of a 1987 school trip, and others who had until recently been considered field archaeologists, but have been wooed by toasty radiators, air-conditioning and on-demand Barry’s with 2 sugars and Low-Fat milk- commodities that only a plush office setting can provide.
Luckily, and in the tradition of Rubicon Christmas Party outings, the weather was horrendous, it was freezing cold and Met Eireann promised we may be greeted by ‘near-hurricane’ conditions. These were the circumstances under which we found ourselves on site- the outcome is charted in photos below…

Some of the team took some time to adjust to strange clothing additions such as ‘Vis Jackets’, and strange oversized shoes called ‘rigger boots’. Extreme cold would soon dull the shock…

The team gaze nervously over the waterfilled moat and revetment…

The staff keep their mind off the near-Arctic conditions as they listen to hardened combat supervisor Steve describe the finds from the well

Steve shows some mercy and allows some of the better-behaved members of the party to ‘look at some finds’ in a strange room-like metal container…

It becomes all too much for some, who look back longingly towards the Office