Continuity and Discontinuity: Ritual from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period in Ireland

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 2: Crossing Boundaries, Materialities, and Identities" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While religion in Ireland is conventionally divided into the pre-Christian Iron Age and the Christian Early Medieval period, it seems obvious that the actual transition was far more complex. The details and focus of ritual shifted in certain ways to incorporate the new beliefs, and these can be seen in the archaeology of both periods. And yet, the break was not always as clear as it might seem. While ritual practice and its underlying context of meaning may have changed, the same landscapes continued to be used and sites which were important in the Iron Age continued to have a meaning in the Early Medieval period. These issues are explored in the context of Iron Age ritual, particularly focused on the ceremonial centers sometimes known as “royal sites”—Tara, Dún Ailinne, Cruachain, and Emain Macha. While these sites ceased being centers of ritual life, they continued to have significance in the context of an otherwise increasingly Christian culture, providing insight into the ways in which changes in belief and practice were experienced and expressed in Early Medieval Ireland.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 2: Crossing Boundaries, Materialities, and Identities   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38606.0