STUDENTS from the US are busy carrying out an archaeological dig near Baltimore as part of an annual study abroad programme.

The students are from the Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora and Modern Ireland course at the University of Maryland, near Washington.

Associate Professor Stephen Brighton said the young archaeologists had already found household items like tea cups and farming equipment at the Baltimore site, where they are investigating the history of three buildings from the 1840s.

The excavation site is licensed by the National Museum of Ireland and found items will become part of the museum’s inventory. 

‘The students absolutely love being in West Cork and they are having a blast here,’ said Stephen Brighton.

‘They go on regular visits to Skibbereen and have also been off to the islands. Every year our students go back to campus and speak really highly of being in Ireland and in Skibbereen.’ 

The knowledge exchange started in 2015 when the students unearthed the remains of rock-cut houses at Windmill Hill dating back to pre-Famine times.

The archaeologists concluded that the structures served different purposes, such as milling and textile-making. 

Other previous digs have included a homestead near Baltimore where the McCarthy family is said to have been forcibly evicted in the early 1900s and then emigrated to Britain.

The site was visited by modern day relative Peter McCarthy from Wales.

Skibbereen Heritage Centre has been an essential hub and source of information for all students since the beginning of the University of Maryland visits.

Staff at the Heritage Centre have also supported students from the College of Charlotte since 2018 and Defiance College in Ohio for the past two years.

‘Everybody has been so nice,’ said Stephen Brighton. ‘We will come back to Skibbereen for as long as Skibbereen will have us.’