Leach further describes the materiality of the work as using “gold and copper because they are conductors: ‘I like their ability to reflect and to conduit, they are signalling to us.’ She uses calfskin, ‘because it’s a material used to record Irish history, our earliest weather records were recorded on calfskin.’ She uses charcoal because it seems to join the dots. She asked herself, ‘the first-ever marks made in the world, and the future – what’s the connection? Charcoal is the answer.’”

Borders of one kind or another have been part of the human story for thousands of years. Many of the Neolithic tombs and Bronze Age standing stones may have acted as territorial markers, with natural features also playing an important role.

Previously a complete absence of contemporary historical records relating to the linear earthworks, The Black Pigs Dyke, had hindered understanding of its origins and use. From 2017 onwards, McDonald worked alongside archaeologists on a series of breakthroughs made from a radiocarbon dating programme which uncovered the exact age and context of these site. Siobhan then began to explore the questions that remained unanswered: What was their purpose? What was it that motivated prehistoric societies to go to such enormous efforts to build these monumental structures? How precisely were they built?

The monuments date from a time in history, the years 100 - 200 AD, when Ireland was suffering from unprecedented changes in the weather and these archaeological remains, left in the landscape from Donegal to Co Armagh, point to a collective response and action; the activation of rituals while also communicating ideas of power and status.  Whether these were intentionally built as ritual sites or not, the work explores this glimpse of how our ancestors dealt with their climate crisis and asks what we might learn from it to deal with ours.