Archaeologists from Ireland, Britain and Europe have come together to honour the life and career of Barry Raftery, recently retired Professor of Celtic Archaeology at University College Dublin. Barry was appointed Professor of Celtic Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, UCD in 1997, and led a programme of major chance and expansion in the areas of teaching and research. Professor Raftery is best known for his widely published work on the Iron Age, including the landmark monograph Pagan Celtic Ireland (1994), his extensive excavations at the late Bronze Age hillfort at Rathgall, Co. Wicklow and his programme of innovation research on wooden trackways and associated features in Irish raised bogs.

The volume includes an appreciation of Barry's career and the contributions are organised into thematic sections reflecting major areas of his own research interests. Papers on the archaeology of wetlands are followed by a series on technology and artifacts. The key issues of contacts and communication is covered, and there is a section on one of Barry's long-term interests: La Tene art. There are a number of papers on life and death in later prehistory, followed by others on hillforts and enclosures, an interest of Barry's from his early graduate research days. Appropriately the volume concludes with a historical perspective, looking at archaeological events and characters in twentieth-century Ireland. This includes an account of the excavation by Barry's father, Dr. Joseph Raftery of the National Museum of Ireland, of the passage tomb at Cairn H, Loughcrew. This festschift is a testament to the very deep regard and affection in which Barry is held at home and internationally.