Material Culture and Identity in Early Modern Ireland: Archaeological Investigations in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim

Summary

The early demise of Carrickfergus in the 18th- century has ensured the remarkable preservation of the town's post-medieval archaeology, a relatively unique phenomenon in urban archaeological investigations in Northern Ireland.  Established as an Anglo-Norman caput in the 12th-century, by the 17th-century Carrickfergus was serving as the cultural, commercial, and civic hub of Ulster; a trans-Atlantic port, home to the Lord Deputy of Ireland and a diverse population of competing political allegiances and cultural identities, namely the English, Irish and Scots.  Cumulative excavations within the town since the 1970s has yielded a wealth of material culture, fundamental to understanding the tangible expression of cultural change and continuity during the tumultuous expansion of British control in Ireland.  A range of archaeological material will be presented in order to explore themes of identity, cultural entanglements, contested narratives and the extent of the emerging British Atlantic economy in late-medieval and early modern Carrickfergus.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Material Culture, Identity, and Practice: Methods, Theories, and Case Studies

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 125