Archaeological Explorations of Cultural Identity and Rural Economy in the North of Ireland: Goodland,County Antrim

Renewed examination of an enigmatic settlement site perched atop a cliff above Murlough Bay in Goodland Townland, County Antrim, Northern Ireland calls into question long held ideas about Gaelic rural economy on the eve of the Ulster Plantation by reintroducing the complex cultural and political relationships between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles. Long interpreted as temporary post-medieval booley huts associated with seasonal transhumance, recent re-evaluation of the site suggests instead that Goodland represents a permanent seventeenth-century Highland Scottish village. Although the medieval linkages between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles have long been acknowledged, twentieth-century sectarianism has subjugated awareness of the Highland (Roman Catholic) Scots focusing upon the legacy of the in-migration of Protestant Lowland Scots during the Ulster Plantation. Material evidence at Goodland re-introduces the Highland Scot to the contested landscape of contemporary Ulster identity, while also facilitating analysis of continuity, change, and cultural complexity in the rural economy of early modern Ireland.     

Refining Broad-Scale Vulnerability Assessment of Coastal Archaeological Resources,Lough Foyle,Northern Ireland

Increasing evidence indicates that ongoing and future climate change impacts, such as enhanced coastal erosion driven by intensified storms and sea-level rise, will be destructive or problematic for coastal archaeological heritage. Approaches to this problem range from broad-scale GIS-based vulnerability assessments to site-scale monitoring and survey. In all cases, the approach chosen should be based on the best-available data on the local historic environment and pattern of coastal change. Therefore, this paper will demonstrate how such data can be successively acquired and enhanced using an integrated approach that builds on and refines a previously conducted broad-scale vulnerability assessment. This approach was adopted in the study region (Northern Ireland) owing to a lack of coherent and up-to-date information on shoreline change. This approach incorporated the GIS-based Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to quantify and analyze local shoreline change. DSAS is a software extension for ESRI ArcGIS which allows calculation of rate-of-change statistics using past shorelines identified from georeferenced historic maps and vertical aerial imagery. Additionally, a field survey was conducted to assess the condition of recorded sites, and identify unrecorded ones. Results revealed a more complex pattern of shoreline change in the study area (Magilligan Foreland, Lough Foyle) than previously anticipated, with zones of significant erosion interspersed with areas of stability or advance. Fifty-one new sites ranging from the prehistoric period to the Second World War were also identified. The new information was used to develop a priority classification based on site significance, condition and risk level which improved significantly on the uniform classification of the original broad-scale assessment.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1994 and 1995 excavations at Saar, Bahrain

The long-term aim of the project is to excavate the entire central area of the Dilmun settlement. During the 1994 and 1995 seasons a further twelve buildings were excavated, most of them located along the main arteries of the settlement. A resistivity survey, followed by selective excavation, determined the size and extent of the site. A well excavated on the eastern flank provided valuable information about the level of Bahrain's aquifers in the Early Dilmun period.     

Submerged Mesolithic Landscape Investigation,Eleven Ballyboes,Republic of Ireland

This paper reports on the first systematic attempt to conduct archaeological survey and excavation for submerged prehistory on the island of Ireland. Fieldwork was conducted in two small bays where Early Mesolithic flint artefacts washed ashore hinted at the presence of a submerged assemblage. Methods employed include non‐intrusive survey, hand coring and excavation. Together, these allowed identification of the artefact source, albeit reworked, in one bay and an early Holocene peat in the other. Though the subtidal assemblage is reworked and relatively small, it is significant in an Irish context and more widely illustrates the potential preservation of prehistoric sites and palaeo‐landscapes in high‐energy settings.     

Werra Ware in Britain,Ireland and North America

Abstract

Werra slipware is a high-quality tableware, made in the Werra valley of northern Germany during the period c. 1570–1630. The history of the study of this ware is described. Its occurrence on 175 sites in Britain and Ireland, and 13 in North America, is documented and discussed. The market for this ware was very largely coastal and urban. In some instances its use may be related to communities of Strangers. The dating, vessel forms and decoration of this ware are also considered.     

Archaeological associations with extinct pleistocene mammals in North America

It has often been argued that there are insufficient associations between extinct Pleistocene mammalian genera and cultural materials to support the argument that human predation played a major role in causing the extinctions. This argument assumes that there are many records for most or all of the extinct mammals that date to the very end of the Pleistocene. An analysis of a sample of radiocarbon dated sites with extinct mammals and younger than 12,000 BP suggests that this criticism of the overkill hypothesis is weakly based.     

Masculinity and political geographies in England,Ireland and North America

Historians have recently turned their attention to the place of masculinity in the politics of early-modern England. This essay widens that exploration to include the imperial settings of Ireland and North America. Drawing upon a range of English- and Irish-language sources – including political treatises, maps, state papers and court poetry – it contends that manhood, as a relational value between men, helped structure the form and character of politics in the metropole, the kingdom of Ireland and the American colonies. In all of those settings, the definition of acceptable male behaviour was different, the effect being that political action and theory in each place took on unique features. Consequently, the essay cautions against studying England and its colonies as distinct units of historical analysis and calls for further exploration of the particularities of colonial settings and their influence on the imperial centre. Moreover, the essay aims to demonstrate that masculinity, particularly contest over its proper expression, is an agent in historical change, in this case helping to shape political theory and practice as England developed into a multiple monarchy and budding imperial power in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.     

Social Change in 19th-Century Rural Ireland and the Archaeology of the Narrow-Gauge Railway: The Case of Munster

Abstract

Railways are unusual archaeological entities. They lasted, in many cases, only for a short length of time, and in their locomotive-hauled form are of quite recent origin. There is a signifi cant amount of documentary information available, making it well-nigh impossible, as well as inadvisable, to rely solely on the extant material remains. The fact that later incarnations of some of these lines remain in existence today and are to a degree part of our lives means that we possess preconceived notions about rail travel. Railways have featured heavily in literature and art, as well as having infl uenced the development of communication networks, politics and social issues. All of these combined, aside from drawing our awareness to the magnitude of the importance of railways, make it difficult to look at them from an archaeological perspective, or to see what an archaeological perspective can bring to the study of railways. This paper examines what an archaeological study of the narrow-gauge railways of Munster (the south-west of Ireland) can contribute to an understanding of broader patterns of social change in 19th-century rural Ireland.     

The Potential for Conflict Archaeology in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

Ireland has been the scene of countless engagements and battles. Early clashes saw the Irish fight not only each other, but also foreign invaders such as the Vikings and Anglo-Normans. The Early Modern period saw conflict reach a new level of intensity, with much of the Country being devastated between 1550 and 1700. Later, rebellions such as 1798 and 1916 punctuate the historical record, ending with the War of Independence and Civil War between 1919–1923. Battles are only part of the story, however. The Republic is also rich in military buildings of varying dates, and has its share of sites such as World War One training areas and World War Two coastal defences, encompassing the full spectrum of conflict archaeology. All these sites have received little archaeological attention in the Republic of Ireland. A pilot study of the Boyne battle field remains the only significant work carried out. Despite this, a significant number of military objects have been recovered throughout the Country, indicating the potential richness of this archaeological resource. This paper will examine a number of locations where further work could be considered, including: Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow (1580), Dún An Oir, Co. Kerry (1580), Kinsale, Co. Cork (1601), Dungan's Hill, Co. Meath (1647), Ballymore, Co. Westmeath (1691) and St. Stephen's Green, Co. Dublin (1916).     

Archaeological applications of testate amoebae analyses: a case study from Derryville,Co. Tipperary,Ireland

The value of testate amoebae in the reconstruction of changes in surface wetness from ombrotrophic mires is well known, but the potential value of such records in specifically archaeological investigations has not yet been investigated. This note describes the analysis of testate amoebae for a sediment sequence from the multi-period wetland archaeological site of Derryville, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. The reconstructed watertable is presented and plotted against the range of dates from excavated archaeological features in the wetland area. The data demonstrate a clear association between periods of low watertable and increased anthropogenic activity as reflected by site construction. The value of testate amoebae in future integrated archaeological investigations of wetland systems is discussed.