Dr. Stephen Mandal is an expert on the Irish landscape, its archaeology, history, and geology. He is the co-founder of award-winning educational organizations: the Irish Heritage School, Cultural Tourism Ireland, and Dig it Kids. Stephen has co-founded several multi-award-winning community heritage projects, including the “Blackfriary Community Heritage Project,” which was awarded funding under the AIA’s Site Preservation program; and the “Digging the Lost Town of Carrick,” “Building the Lost Town of Carrick” and, most recently, the “Monastic Midlands” Projects. He has presented academic and public talks on these projects in Ireland and internationally, including to the Smithsonian. Stephen completion his Ph.D. in Geoarchaeology (Trinity College, Dublin) in 1995, and has co-authored three academic books: Discovering Medieval Ferns, Co. Wexford (2023), Carrick, Co. Wexford: Ireland’s First Anglo-Norman Stronghold (2019), and The Irish Stone Axe Project: Monograph I (1998). He currently serves as a Director of the Discovery Programme (since 2019), and has served as Vice Chairperson of the Royal Irish Academy Committee for Archaeology (2009-2014) and as External Examiner to Sligo Institute of Technology (2012-2015). Stephen is passionate about the outdoor classroom and active, tactile learning, and has a wealth of experience in communicating geology, archaeology, and history at all levels. On this AIA tour he will assist you in viewing the Irish landscape from the perspective of the people who lived there in the past.
Co-founder and CEO of the Irish Archaeology Field School and Cultural Tourism Ireland
