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Junior Cycle · Junior Cycle History

Junior Cycle History: Archaeology

How often Archaeology comes up on the History papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

CL Asked on 4 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. most years

Archaeology, Common Level(7 marks)

Quick ones on Archaeology.

(a)Archaeologists at Wood Quay, Dublin, found thousands of Viking combs, shoes and coins. Objects like these are called…
  1. Annals
  2. Artefacts
  3. Archives
(b)Stratigraphy: an object found in a deeper layer of soil is usually…
  1. The same age as the top layer
  2. Younger than finds in the layers above
  3. Older than finds in the layers above
(c)Which dating method measures how much carbon-14 is left in once-living material?
  1. Radiocarbon dating
  2. Stratigraphy
  3. Dendrochronology
Show the answers

(a) Artefacts

(b) Older than finds in the layers above

(c) Radiocarbon dating

Your turn: Common Level questions on Archaeology.

Common Level

Asked on 4 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. most years

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2026Q1
2025Not asked
2024Q2
2023Q1
2022Q1

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Archaeology questions

Archaeology, 2 marks

Dendrochronology dates wooden objects by…

  1. Measuring how much carbon-14 is left
  2. Checking the depth of soil
  3. Matching patterns of tree rings
Show the answer

Matching patterns of tree rings

Trees add a ring each year, wide in good years and narrow in bad. Matching ring patterns to a master sequence, like Belfast's, can date timber to the exact year.

Archaeology, 3 marks

Why do Irish bogs preserve objects so well?

  1. They are full of sea salt
  2. Low oxygen slows decay
  3. They are very warm all year
Show the answer

Low oxygen slows decay

Waterlogged, acidic bogs lack the oxygen that decay needs. Wooden trackways, bog butter and bodies like Old Croghan Man have survived for over 2,000 years.

Other History topics

All of Junior Cycle History