This paper presents new evidence for the harvesting of edible plant roots and tubers at Northton,... more This paper presents new evidence for the harvesting of edible plant roots and tubers at Northton, a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site on Harris, in the Western Isles of Scotland, in the north-west corner of Europe. The excavations uncovered abundant root tuber remains of Ficaria verna Huds. (lesser celandine), an excellent high energy and carbohydrate-rich food source, and produced the first evidence for the use of tubers of Lathyrus linifolius (Reichard) Bässler (bitter-vetch) at a hunter-gatherer site in Europe. Here we report on the analysis of the charred root and tuber remains and other charred plant macrofossils from the site and consider the significance of these results within the wider context of European hunter-gatherer subsistence. The wide range of root and tuber taxa recovered from European hunter-gatherer sites and the importance of appropriate sampling on hunter-gatherer sites are highlighted.
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature
This paper presents the first detailed audit and analysis of radiocarbon-dated Mesolithic activit... more This paper presents the first detailed audit and analysis of radiocarbon-dated Mesolithic activity in Ireland. This provides a data set of 119 definite or possible sites and nearly 450 dates. This data set is reviewed to understand how changes in the character of archaeological activity and other biasing factors infuence the distribution of radiocarbon dates across space and time. We present very different outcomes than previously published reviews, especially regarding the claimed impact of the 8200 cal BP climatic downturn. This is an outcome of the more reliable data set presented here. Some of the patterns identifed are a product of sampling strategies, such as a peak in Earlier Mesolithic activity attributable to multiple dates from Mount Sandel. Others relate to restructuring of activity by hunter-gatherers leading to signifcant changes to the archaeological visibility of that activity at the change from Earlier to Later Mesolithic. Increasing numbers of radiocarbon dates at the end of the period, alongside the changing character of the archaeological evidence, may indicate low levels of population growth. During the Mesolithic, hunter-gatherer communities settled on the island of Ireland, a large island in the Atlantic northwest of Europe. A cut marked bear patella from the Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare, suggests that hunter-gatherers also visited the island in the nal parts of the Upper Palaeolithic (Dowd and Carden 2016), but the island appears to have been abandoned during the Younger Dryas, before a new phase of settlement in the early Holocene.
This article focuses on the Mesolithic occupation of mountain environments in Europe. The montane... more This article focuses on the Mesolithic occupation of mountain environments in Europe. The montane Mesolithic is a important aspect of the Mesolithic as a whole, but neither its significance nor its potential is fully recognised. Evidence also suggests that we have not communicated this to the wider interdisciplinary community of mountain researchers – a field sometimes known as montology – which is dominated by models of human behaviour in mountains drawn from agricultural examples. Leading publications in the latter field have suggested that human use of mountains can be understood as structured by three key themes: resources, valuable minerals and precious stones, and the cultural importance of mountains. These themes are used to review the Mesolithic record.
Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch, ‘Glen of the Two Loughs’) in the Wicklow Mountains is a beautiful la... more Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch, ‘Glen of the Two Loughs’) in the Wicklow Mountains is a beautiful landscape, famed for its cultural and natural heritage. It is the place that St Kevin (Cóemgen) adopted as a spiritual retreat, to be close to nature, and where he founded a celebrated monastery, probably in the later sixth century.Heritage CouncilWicklow County Council2021-03-10 JG: PDF replaced at author\u27s requestCheck for link to published version on checkdate; others in the series are online here: https://wordwellbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1851; Google: issn 0790-982X brought me there --J
In August 2015 a new collaborative programme of work began which focuses on the Graveyard at Glen... more In August 2015 a new collaborative programme of work began which focuses on the Graveyard at Glendalough. The Glendalough Graveyard Survey was initiated by the Glendalough Heritage Forum and sought to advance our understanding of the graveyard by bringing together the local community, specialists in graveyard recording, State Agencies and University students and researchers. This newsletter highlights the ongoing work of the Graveyard Survey and some key results to date.The Heritage CouncilWicklow County Counci
Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling is based on the proceedings of a t... more Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling is based on the proceedings of a two-day workshop on experimental archaeology at the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens in 2017, in collaboration with UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. Scholars, artists and craftspeople explore how people in the past made things, used and discarded them, from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The papers include discussions of the experimental archaeological reconstruction and likely past experience of medieval houses, and also about how people cast medieval bronze brooches, or sharpened Bronze Age swords, made gold ornaments, or produced fresco wall paintings using their knowledge, skills and practices. The production of ceramics is explored through a description of the links between Neolithic pottery and textiles, through the building and testing of a Bronze Age Cretan pottery kiln, and through the replication and experience of Minoan figurines. The papers in this volume show that experimental archaeology can be about making, understanding, and storytelling about the past, in the present.
This chapter addresses the economic and societal importance of coastal and freshwater fishing dur... more This chapter addresses the economic and societal importance of coastal and freshwater fishing during the Mesolithic of Eastern Norway. Here, new archaeological evidence of fishbone, fishing gear and site locations from different topographic environments-the coastal zone, the eastern interior zone and the mountain areas-are compiled and discussed. Increased use of aquatic resources is noticeable during the Middle and Late Mesolithic (c. 8200-6350 cal BC), even though the studied organic archaeological record are severely affected by techonomic loss. Based on general data from the region, selected key sites and comparison with diachronic finds from Western Norway, Sweden, and Southern Scandinavia, we maintain that increased use of temporally and spatially predictable aquatic foods are linked with socioeconomic consequences such as reduced mobility, delay return systems, and economic and social differentiation. We further argue that rather than passively adapting to the environment, late Mesolithic populations actively intervened, transformed their landscapes and managed its resources. There is ample ethnographic evidence that indigenous nonagrarian people employed management techniques that allowed them to enhance the productivity of the local environment, and sustain supplies of key species. Based on archaeological evidence we suggest that such resource management included transportation of living trout to the upper part of the large watercourses during the last part of the Mesolithic period.
The project Human-Animal Relationships in Archaeology: Worldviews of hunter gatherers in Northern... more The project Human-Animal Relationships in Archaeology: Worldviews of hunter gatherers in Northern Europe (HARA) is a newly commenced postdoctoral research project at the School of Archaeology UCD. Dr Maja Pasaric who has been awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship for her project started at UCD in September 2016. The project is based in School of Archaeology and its Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture and is mentored by Dr Graeme Warren, UCD School of Archaeology. HARA project focuses on how animal remains, especially artefacts made of animal remains, and animal iconography, reflect and construct human-animal relationsEuropean Commission Horizon 2020Euratom research and training programme 2014-201
Around 8,200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the coasts of the Norwegian and North Seas. This... more Around 8,200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the coasts of the Norwegian and North Seas. This event is well known from wide ranging geological and palaeobotanical work undertaken over the last 30 years. Outside of attempts at palaeodemographic models, however, exploration of the social impact of the wave on Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies living on the coasts of west Norway, the north and east British Isles, and around the southern North Sea basin have been less common. It has been widely assumed that the tsunami was a disaster–but what constituted a disaster for the Mesolithic peoples who lived through this event? What can we learn about life after natural hazards by considering the archaeological material from regions with distinct Mesolithic histories? This paper presents a review of evidence of the Storegga tsunami at Mesolithic sites from western Norway, the Northeast UK, and elsewhere around the southern North Sea basin. We consider the ways in which the social impact...
Evaluation and excavation along the route of the A92 between Dundee and Arbroath uncovered the re... more Evaluation and excavation along the route of the A92 between Dundee and Arbroath uncovered the remains of a variety of archaeological features. These included a possible medieval rectilinear enclosure at Cotside; scattered medieval features at Barry Manse; possible prehistoric features at Carlogie, Mains of Kelly and Three Mile Wood, one of which contained Late Neolithic grooved ware; two Bronze Age roundhouses at Auchrennie; and a promontory enclosure with associated Early Historic burials at Elliot.
A large number of small-medium sized earthen platforms are present on the steep slopes surroundin... more A large number of small-medium sized earthen platforms are present on the steep slopes surrounding the Upper Lake at Glendalough. These have been known about since the nineteenth century, and surveys in the late Twentieth century identified about 100 in total. Charcoal was frequently observed where these were disturbed.Office of Public WorksAuthor has checked copyrightkpw6/8/1
<p>Around 8200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami, caused by a massive submarine landslide off... more <p>Around 8200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami, caused by a massive submarine landslide off the coast of Central Norway, struck the coasts of west Norway, Scotland and Doggerland. This event is well known from wide ranging geological and palaeobotanical work undertaken over the last 30 years. What has been less explored, however, is the potential social impact that this natural freak event had on the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies living on the coasts and shores of the North Sea. What happened in the tsunami&#8217;s aftermath? It has been widely assumed to have been a disaster &#8211; but was it? What constituted a disaster in the Mesolithic? In the Mesolithic, people were hunter-gatherer-fishers, they lived by, off, and with the sea. Settlement sites in West Norway were concentrated along the outer coast. People lived on the shores of islands and headlands, or along resource rich tidal currents. Eastern Scottish Mesolithic sites are also found on contemporary coasts, while the coasts of central Doggerland have long since become submerged. What happened to groups in these landscapes on the day the sea became a monster and in the years that followed? In this paper, we will outline a newly started project that will investigate the social impact of the tsunami in areas of the North Sea that have distinctive Mesolithic histories. These coastal inhabitants had, for millennia, developed their own traditions to engage with and learn how to exploit and keep safe from the sea. What can we learn about Mesolithic societies by investigating how communities handled the forces of a tsunami? Responses identified in the archaeological material and environmental archives can potentially inform us of social structures, institutions or ways of living that made the existing societies resilient or vulnerable.</p>
This document outlines the results of small scale excavation undertaken in August 2015 on the Pat... more This document outlines the results of small scale excavation undertaken in August 2015 on the Pattern Bank, in the immediate surrounds of the main Monastic Complex at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow (Figure 1). This excavation forms part of a long term UCD School of Archaeology research and teaching project in the Glendalough Valley. Work on the Pattern Bank was undertaken at the behest of the National Monuments Service and completes fieldwork begun in this location in 2014 (McDermott et al. 2014).
In recent years development-led excavations have transformed regional Mesolithic datasets across ... more In recent years development-led excavations have transformed regional Mesolithic datasets across Britain and Ireland. Studies of the results of these projects have highlighted the frequency with which supposedly mundane features such as pits are encountered on Mesolithic sites. Whilst pits have long been recognised on individual sites, it is only from analyses of large datasets that it has become possible to identify the ways in which pits and features in general can contribute valuable spatial, artefactual and geoarchaeological/palaeoenvironmental information to develop our understanding of life in the Mesolithic. This also facilitates comparison with the Neolithic of both regions, where a rich tradition of pit digging has been well documented archaeologically. Recent reviews of the evidence for pit digging, and the material recovered from pits, in England and Ireland have highlighted the prevalence of these features across a wide range of Mesolithic sites, as well as a diversity o...
This paper examines two related questions: firstly, whether there is a distinctive field of pract... more This paper examines two related questions: firstly, whether there is a distinctive field of practice that might be called “hunter-gatherer archaeology” and which is different than other kinds of archaeology, and secondly, how such a claim might be justified. This question is considered through four prisms: (1) whether hunter-gatherers provide a unitary object of research; (2) whether hunter-gatherer archaeology is the same in different parts of the world; (3) whether hunter-gatherer archaeology is characterised by distinctive forms of archaeological record; and (4) whether there are distinctive themes within the field. None of these approaches provide a single unifying core, with any definition at best a constellation of “partially shared features” and with considerable difficulties surrounding the uncritical continued use of the concept of hunter-gatherers, which is linked to colonial ideologies and practices. Rather than provide a single unitary answer, it is proposed that the val...
This paper presents new evidence for the harvesting of edible plant roots and tubers at Northton,... more This paper presents new evidence for the harvesting of edible plant roots and tubers at Northton, a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site on Harris, in the Western Isles of Scotland, in the north-west corner of Europe. The excavations uncovered abundant root tuber remains of Ficaria verna Huds. (lesser celandine), an excellent high energy and carbohydrate-rich food source, and produced the first evidence for the use of tubers of Lathyrus linifolius (Reichard) Bässler (bitter-vetch) at a hunter-gatherer site in Europe. Here we report on the analysis of the charred root and tuber remains and other charred plant macrofossils from the site and consider the significance of these results within the wider context of European hunter-gatherer subsistence. The wide range of root and tuber taxa recovered from European hunter-gatherer sites and the importance of appropriate sampling on hunter-gatherer sites are highlighted.
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature
This paper presents the first detailed audit and analysis of radiocarbon-dated Mesolithic activit... more This paper presents the first detailed audit and analysis of radiocarbon-dated Mesolithic activity in Ireland. This provides a data set of 119 definite or possible sites and nearly 450 dates. This data set is reviewed to understand how changes in the character of archaeological activity and other biasing factors infuence the distribution of radiocarbon dates across space and time. We present very different outcomes than previously published reviews, especially regarding the claimed impact of the 8200 cal BP climatic downturn. This is an outcome of the more reliable data set presented here. Some of the patterns identifed are a product of sampling strategies, such as a peak in Earlier Mesolithic activity attributable to multiple dates from Mount Sandel. Others relate to restructuring of activity by hunter-gatherers leading to signifcant changes to the archaeological visibility of that activity at the change from Earlier to Later Mesolithic. Increasing numbers of radiocarbon dates at the end of the period, alongside the changing character of the archaeological evidence, may indicate low levels of population growth. During the Mesolithic, hunter-gatherer communities settled on the island of Ireland, a large island in the Atlantic northwest of Europe. A cut marked bear patella from the Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare, suggests that hunter-gatherers also visited the island in the nal parts of the Upper Palaeolithic (Dowd and Carden 2016), but the island appears to have been abandoned during the Younger Dryas, before a new phase of settlement in the early Holocene.
This article focuses on the Mesolithic occupation of mountain environments in Europe. The montane... more This article focuses on the Mesolithic occupation of mountain environments in Europe. The montane Mesolithic is a important aspect of the Mesolithic as a whole, but neither its significance nor its potential is fully recognised. Evidence also suggests that we have not communicated this to the wider interdisciplinary community of mountain researchers – a field sometimes known as montology – which is dominated by models of human behaviour in mountains drawn from agricultural examples. Leading publications in the latter field have suggested that human use of mountains can be understood as structured by three key themes: resources, valuable minerals and precious stones, and the cultural importance of mountains. These themes are used to review the Mesolithic record.
Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch, ‘Glen of the Two Loughs’) in the Wicklow Mountains is a beautiful la... more Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch, ‘Glen of the Two Loughs’) in the Wicklow Mountains is a beautiful landscape, famed for its cultural and natural heritage. It is the place that St Kevin (Cóemgen) adopted as a spiritual retreat, to be close to nature, and where he founded a celebrated monastery, probably in the later sixth century.Heritage CouncilWicklow County Council2021-03-10 JG: PDF replaced at author\u27s requestCheck for link to published version on checkdate; others in the series are online here: https://wordwellbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1851; Google: issn 0790-982X brought me there --J
In August 2015 a new collaborative programme of work began which focuses on the Graveyard at Glen... more In August 2015 a new collaborative programme of work began which focuses on the Graveyard at Glendalough. The Glendalough Graveyard Survey was initiated by the Glendalough Heritage Forum and sought to advance our understanding of the graveyard by bringing together the local community, specialists in graveyard recording, State Agencies and University students and researchers. This newsletter highlights the ongoing work of the Graveyard Survey and some key results to date.The Heritage CouncilWicklow County Counci
Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling is based on the proceedings of a t... more Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling is based on the proceedings of a two-day workshop on experimental archaeology at the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens in 2017, in collaboration with UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. Scholars, artists and craftspeople explore how people in the past made things, used and discarded them, from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The papers include discussions of the experimental archaeological reconstruction and likely past experience of medieval houses, and also about how people cast medieval bronze brooches, or sharpened Bronze Age swords, made gold ornaments, or produced fresco wall paintings using their knowledge, skills and practices. The production of ceramics is explored through a description of the links between Neolithic pottery and textiles, through the building and testing of a Bronze Age Cretan pottery kiln, and through the replication and experience of Minoan figurines. The papers in this volume show that experimental archaeology can be about making, understanding, and storytelling about the past, in the present.
This chapter addresses the economic and societal importance of coastal and freshwater fishing dur... more This chapter addresses the economic and societal importance of coastal and freshwater fishing during the Mesolithic of Eastern Norway. Here, new archaeological evidence of fishbone, fishing gear and site locations from different topographic environments-the coastal zone, the eastern interior zone and the mountain areas-are compiled and discussed. Increased use of aquatic resources is noticeable during the Middle and Late Mesolithic (c. 8200-6350 cal BC), even though the studied organic archaeological record are severely affected by techonomic loss. Based on general data from the region, selected key sites and comparison with diachronic finds from Western Norway, Sweden, and Southern Scandinavia, we maintain that increased use of temporally and spatially predictable aquatic foods are linked with socioeconomic consequences such as reduced mobility, delay return systems, and economic and social differentiation. We further argue that rather than passively adapting to the environment, late Mesolithic populations actively intervened, transformed their landscapes and managed its resources. There is ample ethnographic evidence that indigenous nonagrarian people employed management techniques that allowed them to enhance the productivity of the local environment, and sustain supplies of key species. Based on archaeological evidence we suggest that such resource management included transportation of living trout to the upper part of the large watercourses during the last part of the Mesolithic period.
The project Human-Animal Relationships in Archaeology: Worldviews of hunter gatherers in Northern... more The project Human-Animal Relationships in Archaeology: Worldviews of hunter gatherers in Northern Europe (HARA) is a newly commenced postdoctoral research project at the School of Archaeology UCD. Dr Maja Pasaric who has been awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship for her project started at UCD in September 2016. The project is based in School of Archaeology and its Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture and is mentored by Dr Graeme Warren, UCD School of Archaeology. HARA project focuses on how animal remains, especially artefacts made of animal remains, and animal iconography, reflect and construct human-animal relationsEuropean Commission Horizon 2020Euratom research and training programme 2014-201
Around 8,200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the coasts of the Norwegian and North Seas. This... more Around 8,200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the coasts of the Norwegian and North Seas. This event is well known from wide ranging geological and palaeobotanical work undertaken over the last 30 years. Outside of attempts at palaeodemographic models, however, exploration of the social impact of the wave on Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies living on the coasts of west Norway, the north and east British Isles, and around the southern North Sea basin have been less common. It has been widely assumed that the tsunami was a disaster–but what constituted a disaster for the Mesolithic peoples who lived through this event? What can we learn about life after natural hazards by considering the archaeological material from regions with distinct Mesolithic histories? This paper presents a review of evidence of the Storegga tsunami at Mesolithic sites from western Norway, the Northeast UK, and elsewhere around the southern North Sea basin. We consider the ways in which the social impact...
Evaluation and excavation along the route of the A92 between Dundee and Arbroath uncovered the re... more Evaluation and excavation along the route of the A92 between Dundee and Arbroath uncovered the remains of a variety of archaeological features. These included a possible medieval rectilinear enclosure at Cotside; scattered medieval features at Barry Manse; possible prehistoric features at Carlogie, Mains of Kelly and Three Mile Wood, one of which contained Late Neolithic grooved ware; two Bronze Age roundhouses at Auchrennie; and a promontory enclosure with associated Early Historic burials at Elliot.
A large number of small-medium sized earthen platforms are present on the steep slopes surroundin... more A large number of small-medium sized earthen platforms are present on the steep slopes surrounding the Upper Lake at Glendalough. These have been known about since the nineteenth century, and surveys in the late Twentieth century identified about 100 in total. Charcoal was frequently observed where these were disturbed.Office of Public WorksAuthor has checked copyrightkpw6/8/1
<p>Around 8200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami, caused by a massive submarine landslide off... more <p>Around 8200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami, caused by a massive submarine landslide off the coast of Central Norway, struck the coasts of west Norway, Scotland and Doggerland. This event is well known from wide ranging geological and palaeobotanical work undertaken over the last 30 years. What has been less explored, however, is the potential social impact that this natural freak event had on the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies living on the coasts and shores of the North Sea. What happened in the tsunami&#8217;s aftermath? It has been widely assumed to have been a disaster &#8211; but was it? What constituted a disaster in the Mesolithic? In the Mesolithic, people were hunter-gatherer-fishers, they lived by, off, and with the sea. Settlement sites in West Norway were concentrated along the outer coast. People lived on the shores of islands and headlands, or along resource rich tidal currents. Eastern Scottish Mesolithic sites are also found on contemporary coasts, while the coasts of central Doggerland have long since become submerged. What happened to groups in these landscapes on the day the sea became a monster and in the years that followed? In this paper, we will outline a newly started project that will investigate the social impact of the tsunami in areas of the North Sea that have distinctive Mesolithic histories. These coastal inhabitants had, for millennia, developed their own traditions to engage with and learn how to exploit and keep safe from the sea. What can we learn about Mesolithic societies by investigating how communities handled the forces of a tsunami? Responses identified in the archaeological material and environmental archives can potentially inform us of social structures, institutions or ways of living that made the existing societies resilient or vulnerable.</p>
This document outlines the results of small scale excavation undertaken in August 2015 on the Pat... more This document outlines the results of small scale excavation undertaken in August 2015 on the Pattern Bank, in the immediate surrounds of the main Monastic Complex at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow (Figure 1). This excavation forms part of a long term UCD School of Archaeology research and teaching project in the Glendalough Valley. Work on the Pattern Bank was undertaken at the behest of the National Monuments Service and completes fieldwork begun in this location in 2014 (McDermott et al. 2014).
In recent years development-led excavations have transformed regional Mesolithic datasets across ... more In recent years development-led excavations have transformed regional Mesolithic datasets across Britain and Ireland. Studies of the results of these projects have highlighted the frequency with which supposedly mundane features such as pits are encountered on Mesolithic sites. Whilst pits have long been recognised on individual sites, it is only from analyses of large datasets that it has become possible to identify the ways in which pits and features in general can contribute valuable spatial, artefactual and geoarchaeological/palaeoenvironmental information to develop our understanding of life in the Mesolithic. This also facilitates comparison with the Neolithic of both regions, where a rich tradition of pit digging has been well documented archaeologically. Recent reviews of the evidence for pit digging, and the material recovered from pits, in England and Ireland have highlighted the prevalence of these features across a wide range of Mesolithic sites, as well as a diversity o...
This paper examines two related questions: firstly, whether there is a distinctive field of pract... more This paper examines two related questions: firstly, whether there is a distinctive field of practice that might be called “hunter-gatherer archaeology” and which is different than other kinds of archaeology, and secondly, how such a claim might be justified. This question is considered through four prisms: (1) whether hunter-gatherers provide a unitary object of research; (2) whether hunter-gatherer archaeology is the same in different parts of the world; (3) whether hunter-gatherer archaeology is characterised by distinctive forms of archaeological record; and (4) whether there are distinctive themes within the field. None of these approaches provide a single unifying core, with any definition at best a constellation of “partially shared features” and with considerable difficulties surrounding the uncritical continued use of the concept of hunter-gatherers, which is linked to colonial ideologies and practices. Rather than provide a single unitary answer, it is proposed that the val...
The use of quartz as a raw material for flaked stone tools was widespread in Irish prehistory but... more The use of quartz as a raw material for flaked stone tools was widespread in Irish prehistory but a traditional focus by archaeologists on flint, and the use of a flint framework for analysing quartz, has led to the neglect of prehistoric quartz use. This paper introduces a completed PhD programme of analysis of quartz flaked stone technology in Irish prehistory at the UCD School of Archaeology. This project, which was primarily based upon recently excavated Mesolithic and Neolithic quartz assemblages, provided a general overview of the extent of quartz use in Ireland, developed analytical frameworks for this material through experimental knapping and tested this framework through selected case studies. The primary case study was a Mesolithic and Neolithic quartz scatter at Belderrig, Co. Mayo, western Ireland, excavated by Graeme Warren. This paper provides an overview of the excavations at Belderrig, an outline of the methodologies employed in developing the analytical framework for the quartz industry and presents the preliminary results of the analysis of the assemblage.
Hunter-gatherer archaeology in Europe covers a wide temporal frame stretching from the initial ar... more Hunter-gatherer archaeology in Europe covers a wide temporal frame stretching from the initial arrival of Homo Sapiens sapiens until the transition to farming. It explores deep Stone Age histories based on elaborate analytical tool kits and interpretative frameworks. However, within the broader, interdisciplinary field of hunter-gatherer studies, European hunter-gatherer archaeology is distinct to that of other continents, in that it has remained a "consumer" of anthropological theory and ethnographic analogies-despite its great potential to contribute original and highly relevant perspectives to contemporary concerns. When integrated with anthropological approaches and broader global concerns such as rising social inequality, decolonization processes, climate change and other socio-environmental hazards, it becomes clear that European hunter-gatherer archaeology has a lot to offer in order to approach current problems through its longue durée perspective and its expertize on alternative life worlds. This session aims to discuss how European hunter-gatherer archaeology contributes to these wider popular debates and contemporary concerns, and seeks to situate this contribution in relation to that of other continents. We will consider the impact on diverse fields such as postcolonial debates, indigenous archaeologies, empowerment and multivocality, the growing interest in multi-species systems, and sociologies of adaptive potential from vulnerability to resilience. We welcome contributions which discuss achievements and identify future imperatives across this spectrum, addressing e.g. the following questions: How does hunter-gatherer archaeology contribute to wider anthropological debates? What role does hunter-gatherer archaeology play in promoting alternative social structures to counteract growing social inequalities? How do our findings inform political activism, e.g. concerning indigenous rights and empowerment, or anarchist movements? On the global scale, what role have archaeologists played in advocating the concerns of contemporary hunter-gatherer communities? In a world where anthropogenic climate change rapidly increases natural hazards, what does hunter-gatherer archaeology contribute to understand vulnerability and strengthen contemporary resilience? Abstract: Log in and submit your paper here: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2021/
Hunter-gatherer archaeology in Europe covers a wide temporal frame stretching from the initial ar... more Hunter-gatherer archaeology in Europe covers a wide temporal frame stretching from the initial arrival of Homo Sapiens sapiens until the transition to farming. It explores deep Stone Age histories based on elaborate analytical tool kits and interpretative frameworks. However, within the broader, interdisciplinary field of hunter-gatherer studies, European hunter-gatherer archaeology is distinct to that of other continents, in that it has remained a "consumer" of anthropological theory and ethnographic analogies-despite its great potential to contribute original and highly relevant perspectives to contemporary concerns. When integrated with anthropological approaches and broader global concerns such as rising social inequality, decolonization processes, climate change and other socio-environmental hazards, it becomes clear that European hunter-gatherer archaeology has a lot to offer in order to approach current problems through its longue durée perspective and its expertize on alternative life worlds. This session aims to discuss how European hunter-gatherer archaeology contributes to these wider popular debates and contemporary concerns, and seeks to situate this contribution in relation to that of other continents. We will consider the impact on diverse fields such as postcolonial debates, indigenous archaeologies, empowerment and multivocality, the growing interest in multi-species systems, and sociologies of adaptive potential from vulnerability to resilience. We welcome contributions which discuss achievements and identify future imperatives across this spectrum, addressing e.g. the following questions: How does hunter-gatherer archaeology contribute to wider anthropological debates? What role does hunter-gatherer archaeology play in promoting alternative social structures to counteract growing social inequalities? How do our findings inform political activism, e.g. concerning indigenous rights and empowerment, or anarchist movements? On the global scale, what role have archaeologists played in advocating the concerns of contemporary hunter-gatherer communities? In a world where anthropogenic climate change rapidly increases natural hazards, what does hunter-gatherer archaeology contribute to understand vulnerability and strengthen contemporary resilience? Abstract: Log in and submit your paper here: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2021/
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