The Later Bronze Age Seascapes of Western Ireland
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European Journal of Archaeology 22 (1) 2019, 44–66 Along the Margins? The Later Bronze Age Seascapes of Western Ireland 1 2 1 3 COLIN P. QUINN ,IAN KUIJT ,NATHAN GOODALE AND JOHN ÓNÉILL 1Anthropology Department, Hamilton College, Clinton (NY), USA 2Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame (IN), USA 3Lifelong Learning Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland This article presents the results of multi-scalar investigations into the Later Bronze Age (LBA; 1500– 600 BC) landscape of Inishark in County Galway, Ireland. The European LBA along the Atlantic coast was characterized by the development of long-distance maritime exchange systems that transformed environmentally marginal seascapes into a corridor of human interaction and movement of goods and people. Archaeological survey, test excavation, and radiocarbon analysis documented the LBA occupation on Inishark. The communities living on Inishark and other small islands on the western Irish coast were on the periphery of both the European continent and of the elite spheres of influence at hillforts in Ireland; yet they were connected to the Atlantic maritime exchange routes. A focus on small coastal islands contributes to a better understanding of LBA socioeconomic systems and the development of social complexity in Bronze Age societies. Keywords: Bronze Age, Ireland, island archaeology, seascapes, long-distance exchange INTRODUCTION exchange systems, fuelled by the growing demand and increased access to metals and During the European Later Bronze Age other exotics for economic, social, and pol- (LBA hereafter; 1500–600 BC), raw and itical purposes (e.g. Earle & Kristiansen, finished commodities, including copper, 2010; Earle et al., 2015). The interface gold, tin, amber, and faience, flowed across between these continent-scale processes Europe at scales previously unseen (Pare, and local developments along the Atlantic 2000; Cunliffe, 2001; Kristiansen & seascape remain poorly understood. Larsson, 2005; Harding, 2007; Ling et al., The small islands off the central-western 2013, 2014). Along the Atlantic coast of coast of Ireland were linked with, and were Europe, stretching from Iberia to Scotland, affected by, the expansion of maritime net- the sea and coastlines took on an increased works in the LBA. Traditionally, islands socioeconomic importance as new and have been conceptualized as disconnected more sophisticated seafaring technologies and separate, with water seen as a barrier opened maritime corridors to new commu- restricting social and economic interaction nities and facilitated cultural mobility (see Fitzpatrick, 2004). Small coastal (Wright et al., 2001; Van de Noort, 2004, islands in particular have been assumed to 2013; Clark, 2005). A key mechanism for be marginal, i.e. landscapes that are periph- social transformation in Bronze Age eral to other areas in terms of environmen- Europe was the expansion of long-distance tal, demographic, geographic, and social Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2018 doi:10.1017/eaa.2018.27 Manuscript received 3 November 2017, accepted 27 May 2018, revised 4 April 2018 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 172.97.98.106, on 04 Feb 2019 at 19:00:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.27 Quinn et al. – Along the Margins? 45 factors, and, being surrounded by water, Ginn (2016) to encompass the second half they have often been treated as neither of the Middle Bronze Age and entire Late accessible nor usable areas (see Dwyer, Bronze Age as part of the three-phase 2009). Recently, researchers have re-con- chronological system used in Ireland (see ceptualized islands as part of integrated Roberts et al., 2013; Ginn, 2016: 39). seascapes where water is both a conduit This article presents the results of inte- and a barrier to cultural mobility (Cooney, grative multi-scalar investigations on 2004; Phillips, 2004; Van de Noort, 2004; Inishark. Through archaeological survey, Rainbird, 2007; Thompson & Turck, geophysical prospection, test excavation, 2010;O’Shea, 2011). and radiocarbon analysis, we document the Revising our perspective of Ireland’s Bronze Age occupational history of the islands and coastal areas as part of an inte- island, with a particular emphasis on land- grated seascape allows us to better under- scape alteration and relict features related stand how the development of Bronze to subsistence and residence. This study Age long-distance exchange networks provides some of the first 14C dates that transformed environmentally marginal place field systems and promontory fortifi- seascapes into an important corridor of cations in western Ireland into the LBA. human interaction and movement of When integrated into a broader regional goods and people (Sherratt, 1993; Mount, context, these data complement developing 2000; Cooney, 2004; Van de Noort, 2004, research on large fortified settlements and 2011; Phillips, 2004; Frieman, 2008; mainland landscapes to provide a better Needham, 2009). Larger regional centres, understanding of LBA social and economic such as Dún Aonghasa (Cotter, 2012), as systems along the western Irish coast. well as the flow of exotic commodities such as metal (e.g. Henderson, 2007:57– 98; Waddell, 2010: 231–32; Ling et al., INISHARK,CO.GALWAY,LOCATION AND 2013, 2014), have been a major focus of CONTEXT Bronze Age archaeological research on the west coast of Ireland. Settlements on The maritime seascape of central-western smaller islands have received comparatively Ireland, from Galway Bay to Clew Bay, less attention. It is important to (1) dem- includes small islands and a narrow ribbon onstrate that small coastal islands were of usable land along the coasts of County occupied during the LBA and (2) explore Galway and Mayo, bounded by the high the relationship among small island com- mountains and boglands of Connemara to munities, larger regional centres, and the east and Atlantic Ocean to the west maritime trade systems. To do this, we (Figure 1). Varying in size, topography, combine an intensive study of a small and soil composition, the coastal islands, island, Inishark in County Galway, including Achill Island, Omey Island, Ireland, with a broader discussion of Inishbofin, Inishturk, Inishark, Clare social, economic, and political dynamics in Island, and the Aran Islands, are distinct the western Irish seascapes during the microenvironments with unique occupa- LBA. In order to connect local Irish arch- tional histories. Some were inhabited from aeological sequences with continental-scale the Neolithic period to the present (e.g. processes, we frame the chronological span Gosling et al., 2007). The extent of of our research in line with other human settlement on specific islands was European researchers and adopt the LBA probably linked to the availability of soils terminology most recently employed by for growing crops and fodder for livestock, Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 172.97.98.106, on 04 Feb 2019 at 19:00:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.27 46 European Journal of Archaeology 22 (1) 2019 Figure 1. Western Irish seascapes with islands mentioned in the text. the availability and control of water, the The long-term use of Inishark has sim- feasibility of access to the mainland, and ultaneously preserved, exposed, and access to fish stocks in the surrounding destroyed evidence of prehistoric occupa- waters (Gibbons & Higgins, 1993). tions. With Neolithic deforestation, expan- Located eight km from the mainland, sion of blanket bog continued into the Inishark is about 2.75 km long in an east– Bronze Age and Iron Age in western west direction, and 1.2 km wide from Ireland (O’Connell 1990a, 1990b; Molloy north to south (Figure 2A). The treeless &O’Connell, 1993). Blanket bogs covered island rises from the lower and more pro- and preserved the prehistoric landscape of tected southern and eastern side of the Inishark. The removal of this uppermost island to cliffs at least 100–150 m high layer of turf on the western end of the along the western and northern sides. The island during the eighteenth- to the twen- island poses significant environmental and tieth-centuries exposed a series of large topographical challenges: frequent expos- alignments that proved to be Bronze Age ure to high winds, unpredictable access to hut circles and field walls. Any Bronze Age the island across open water, scarce fuel occupation on the south-eastern end of the sources, variable soil quality, and extensive island has now been destroyed or covered upland bogs and wetlands. The majority by the historic village. Inishark was aban- of nineteenth- and twentieth-century as doned in 1960, and consequently the well as medieval-period occupation was impact of modern agricultural machinery located on the south-eastern end of on the archaeological landscape has been Inishark (Gibbons & Higgins, 1993; Kuijt limited. This pattern is strikingly different et al., 2011; Goodale et al., 2018), which from the coastal mainland. Viewed as a has a small pier and is more protected whole, Inishark provides a unique oppor- from the elements. tunity to understand LBA island lifeways. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 172.97.98.106, on 04 Feb 2019 at 19:00:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2018.27 Quinn et al. – Along the Margins? 47 Figure 2. Inishark: (A) locations of Later Bronze Age remains across the island: (B) location of Later Bronze Age field systems, hut circles, and burnt mounds in the south-western area of the island. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 172.97.98.106, on 04 Feb 2019 at 19:00:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.