Pots, Pipes & Plantation: Material Culture & Cultural Identity in Early Modern Ireland

Summary

Existing sectarian divides in Northern Ireland are still perceived to originate from the 17th century expansion of British colonial control into Ireland, most resolutely seen in the atrocities of the Northern Irish Conflict, or ‘the Troubles’.  However an explosion of urban historical excavations in recent years has illuminated an archaeological record that appears to contradict dominant political powerhouses and rhetoric.

Archaeological investigations throughout the former transatlantic port town of Carrickfergus (Co. Antrim) has generated an abundance of 17th century material culture, fundamental to understanding and demonstrating the nature of cultural relations, practices and identity in a plantation-era settlement, especially one that was home to a conflation of native Gaelic Irish and incoming English and Scottish settlers, that can ultimatley aid in renogiating our past.  A selection of artefacts will be presented to discuss notions of cultural interactions, conflict, identity, and colonial ideologies in early-modern Ulster. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2016   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 883