Up to 40 US archaeology students have arrived in Roscommon in recent days to take part in a month long field school in Ballintubber.
The Castle in Communities project is now in its 7th year and brings students every year to work and learn about the castle and live in the local community for four weeks.
This year the project will continue large cuttings within the castle to expose early construction phase4s, and new work this year will involve looking at the recently discovered deserted village beside the castle.
Bryce Beasley is one of the students who've come to work on the project for several years.
He says the experience is virtually unique in the deputy and variety of experience that participants get.
''This project is very unique, I've had the opportunity to look at many other archaeological projects but I have to say 'Castle in Communities' is second to none in covering everything, from how we survey the ground to see where you should dig to how you dig and then how you process artefacts and write your findings up afterwards. Many programmes only look at the little bits but this programme takes everyone through and many students have arrived knowing little about archaeology but have now went on to have careers in the field.''
