"Meitheal Adhmadóireachta" Exploring and Communicating Prehistoric Irish Woodcraft Through Remaking and Shared Experience

This article discusses the Pallasboy Project, an exploration of prehistoric woodworking, based around the "experimental"crafting of replicas of artefacts preserved in waterlogged deposits. These artefacts included the eponymous Pallasboy vessel, an Iron age alder wood trough from Toar Bog, Co. Westmeath, Ireland; the Bronze Age "Red Man of Kilbeg"anthropomorphic figurine; the Lees Island 5 Iron Age log boat; and the Iron Age Ballachulish Goddess, another anthropomorphic figurine, from Scotland. We sketch how the project developed, in an organic way, from small-scale informal interactions with archaeologists and woodworkers, to the involvement of artists, musicians, and diverse members of the "general public."Some of these connections were fleeting and momentary, others in-depth and extended, but all resulted in equitable exchanges between different individuals, communities of practice, and the core project team. We consider the process in relation to the Irish concept of Meitheal, a practice of reciprocal exchange of labour, for and on behalf of the community. We also reflect on the importance of different spaces and places for the process of re-making and other interactions, and consider the importance of engagements that are unknowable and thus escape our attempts to capture or "archive."