Ireland in the Iron Age: Interaction, Identity, and Ritual

Summary

The relationship between Ireland and both Britain and continental Europe has often, both explicitly and implicitly, cast Ireland as either subsumed under the "British Isles" or as being "peripheral" to cultural life there and on the Continent. This terminology simultaneously ignores the unique aspects of Irish social and cultural life while suggesting that any study of culture there is not relevant to a broader understanding of the human experience. However, the archaeological record suggests a situation which is more nuanced and so more complex than this terminology would imply. Ireland clearly participated in a wider cultural world while also expressing its own unique identity. These issues will be explored specifically in the context of Iron Age ritual in Ireland, where evidence suggests that cultural and social identity were being actively fashioned. Using data from excavation at the Iron Age ceremonial center of Dún Ailinne, Co. Kildare, it will be argued that ritual in this period both tied Ireland to a larger Iron Age world while providing a medium in which to create a new context for political and ritual life that differed from that emerging in Britain and beyond while still being situated in international social trends.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18860