Rúaidhrí de Valera

Ruaidhri de Valera (* 1916 in Dublin, † October 1978) was an Irish archaeologist and professor of Celtic archeology at University College Dublin.

Life

Ruaidhri de Valera was born in 1916 as the fourth son of the politician Éamon de Valera in Dublin. He studied Celtic Studies at University College Dublin in 1939, where he received his Bachelor of Arts (BA). De Valera then served in the Irish Army and in 1942 was lecturer for one year for Old Irish language in Maynooth. In 1945 he received his Master of Arts ( MA). In his master thesis he had dealt with megalithic tombs in the northeast of County Clare.

In 1946 he was Placenames Officer in the Ordnance Survey Ireland, the national land survey authority. The following year he was initiated in 1949 Archaeology Officer and the perpetration of Irish megalithic sites. In the years to de Valera published several works on megalithic and prepared his doctoral thesis. In 1954 he received his doctoral degree. As Seán P. Ó Ríordáin died in 1957, de Valera was appointed as the new Professor at the Department of Celtic Archaeology at University College Dublin; an office which he held until his death in 1978. In the summer of 1959 he joined begun by Ó Ríordáin earthworks at the Mound of the Hostages ( Hill of the Hostages ), an approximately 2700 BC dated passage tomb at Tara, from. In 1960 he introduced the concept Court tomb to describe systems with common architectural elements. The purpose projected 300 copies are found almost exclusively in the north of Ireland and in Northern Ireland.

During his academic career he published several other journals and presented with the proposition that it is for the Court tombs in the west of Ireland to the oldest facilities of its kind on the island of Ireland, against the conventional wisdom of his time.

Furthermore, de Valera was co-author of the first four volumes of the Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland and wrote a revised edition of Ó Ríordáins Antiquities of the Irish Countryside. As a professor at University College Dublin, he expanded the archaeological department. De Valera died unexpectedly in October 1978 while he attended an archaeological event in the Fermanagh County Museum.

Publications (selection)

Writings

  • Ruaidhri de Valera: Seán Ó Donnabháin Agus a cunta Lucht, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol 79, No. 1/2, 1949, pp. 146-159
  • Ruaidhri de Valera, Seán Ó Nualláin: The Megalithic Tombs of the Iceland of Achilles, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol 80, No. 2 (Jul., 1950), pp. 199-227
  • Ruaidhri de Valera: A Group of "Horned Cairns " near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol 81, No. 2 (1951 ), pp. 161-197
  • Ruaidhri de Valera, Seán Ó Nualláin: A Cruciform Passage Grave: At Behy townland, Co. Mayo, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol 25, No. 1/2 (1952 ), pp. 47-51
  • Séan P. Ó Ríordáin, Ruaidhri de Valera: Excavation of a Megalithic Tomb at Ballyedmonduff, Co. Dublin, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, Vol 55, ( 1952/1953 ), pp. 61-81
  • Ruaidhri de Valera, Seán Ó Nualláin: A Court Cairn in Co. Kilkenny, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol 92, No. 2 (1962 ), pp. 117-123
  • Ruaidhri de Valera, Seán Ó Nualláin: Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland (Volume 1 to Volume 4 )
  • Seán P. Ó Ríordáin: Antiquities of the Irish Countryside ( 5th edition, revised by Ruaidhri de Valera )
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