Overview
Three reports are required as a condition of any Excavation Licence issued:
- Preliminary Report—to be submitted within 4 weeks of the completion of all on-site works, or 4-weeks from the end of the excavation season for multi-annual projects
- Final Report—to be submitted within 12 months of the completion of all on-site works. This must be a full and final account of the works and should include all supporting specialist analysis. For large-scale investigations or in certain circumstances an extended timeframe may be permitted; this must be agreed with us on a case-by-case basis.
- Concise Report—to be submitted for each calendar year during which a licence is active; this is a summary report for the annual Excavations bulletin.
Note: In some instances (if no further post-excavation analysis or other specialist works are required and the report provides a full accounting of the works undertaken) it is acceptable to submit Final Report only, provided that such a report is submitted within 4 weeks of the completion of all on-site works. A Concise Report is always required.
Report Format
A two-part reporting format is mandatory for all Excavation Licences issued since January 2019. Note: this also applies to older licences that have been renewed or extended after that date.
The parts should be structured as follows:
- The First Part is to contain purely archaeological information, with no personal data other than the name of the licensee. For final reports of large-scale excavations, it is acceptable to divide the First Part into multiple volumes. All volumes should include the licence number on the cover.
- The Second Part is to be restricted in content to other information, such as name of client/developer and planning and development background (if any) to the excavation. This second part should include the licence number on the cover but with an ‘X’ appended to it.
A template for the Second Part report, as well as the advice notes on report formats that were issued in 2018 and 2020, is available.
The two parts of your report should be submitted as individual digital files (see the Report Submission section below).
The National Monuments Service will not accept excavation reports for licences issued after January 2019 that are not in this format.
Content and Quality
The preliminary report must contain an initial account of the excavation findings. This should include an account of the stratigraphy and features excavated; basic catalogues of finds, samples, photographs, plans and any other material retained from the excavation; with appropriate mapping and illustrations. It should also include a post-excavation strategy, outlining the further specialist analyses and research that will be undertaken to more fully interpret the findings of the excavation and place the site in its archaeological and historical context.
The final report must contain a full account of the stratigraphy, features and finds and must include specialist reports and be suitably illustrated. It must interpret the site and place it in its archaeological and historical context. This report should also include a full account of all artefacts, eco-facts and archival records retained from the on-site and off-site works to date, along with a full set of recommendations for the accessioning of material to the National Museum of Ireland or to an appropriate archaeological archive such as the NMS Archive or the Dublin City Archaeological Archive (as appropriate).
Please consult our Guidelines for Authors of Reports on Archaeological Excavation for further information.
The National Monuments Service reserves the right to request improvements and corrections to reports which are deemed to be incomplete, incorrect or do not comply with our guidelines. The reporting requirements of the licence will not be cleared until a compliant report that is acceptable to us has been submitted by the licence holder.
Submission of Preliminary and Final Reports
In each case, one digital copy of the Preliminary and Final Report must be submitted to the National Monuments Service. A single hard copy and one digital copy of each report must also be submitted to the National Museum of Ireland.
Digital copies of reports can be submitted by email to: licensingsection@housing.gov.ie; please ensure that the licence number is included in the subject line of your email.
For reports with file sizes too large for email, an upload link can be requested from us by emailing the same address.
All reports relating to Excavation Licences that are submitted to us are made publicly available in due course.
Archiving
Once all post-excavation works relating to any licence have been completed and the Final Report has been submitted and accepted, the Licence Holder must make arrangements to deposit all archival material associated with the excavation with the NMS Archive. No disposal of material from site archives should be carried out without agreement from us.
Likewise, the final deposition of all artefacts and eco-facts retained from the archaeological excavation must be agreed with the National Museum of Ireland.