The Neolithic of the Irish Sea

The Neolithic of the Irish Sea
Author: Chris Fowler
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015-03-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785700383

This collection of 24 papers aims to reconsider the nature and significance of the Irish Sea as an area of cultural interaction during the Neolithic period. The traditional character of work across this region has emphasised the existence of prehistoric contact, with sea routes criss-crossing between Ireland, the Isle of Man, Anglesey and the British mainland. A parallel course of investigation, however, has demonstrated that the British and Irish Neolithics were in many ways different, with distinct indigenous patterns of activity and social practices. The recent emphasis on regional studies has further produced evidence for parallel yet different processes of cultural change taking place throughout the British Isles as a whole. This volume brings together some of these regional perspectives and compares them across the Irish Sea area. The authors consider new ways to explain regional patterning in the use of material objects and relate them to past practices and social strategies. Were there practices that were shared across the Irish Sea area linking different styles of monuments and material culture, or were the media intrinsic to the message? The volume is based on papers presented at a conference held at the University of Manchester in 2002.

Our Beautiful, Dry, and Distant Texts

Our Beautiful, Dry, and Distant Texts
Author: James Elkins
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780271043906

Elkins argues that writing is what art historians produce, and, whether such writing is a transparent vehicle for the transmission of facts or an embattled forum for the rehearsal of institutional relations and constructions of history, it is an expressive medium, with the capacity for emotion and reflection. Therefore, it needs to be taken seriously for its own sake: it is the testament of art history and of individual historians, and it is only weakened and slighted by versions of history that imagine it either as uncontrolled dissemination or as objective discovery and reporting.

The Making of the Scottish Rural Landscape

The Making of the Scottish Rural Landscape
Author: David Turnock
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351886126

This book looks at the evolution of rural settlement in Scotland from the Mesolithic period through to the improving movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. The main emphasis is on changes in society and technology, but the book also considers how the development of the physical landscape laid the foundation for such changes. The author strikes a balance between general perspectives (including relevant contextual materials such as the political structures) and local studies, with much emphasis on individual sites. Lack of documentation prior to the 10th century places particular importance on the archaeological evidence, but imaginative interpretation of this evidence has led to a major re-evaluation. Ideas emphasizing continuity of settlement and local adaptation are replacing older ’invasionist’ theories emphasizing Celtic war lords and broch-building pirates.

Cattle Lords and Clansmen

Cattle Lords and Clansmen
Author: Nerys T. Patterson
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 448
Release: 1994-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0268161461

In Cattle Lords and Clansmen, Nerys Patterson provides an analysis of the social structure of medieval Ireland, focusing on the pre-Norman period. By combining difficult, often fragmentary primary sources with sociological and anthropological methods, Patterson produces a unique approach to the study of early Ireland—one that challenges previous scholarship. The second edition includes a chapter on seasonal rhythm, material derived from Patterson’s post-1991 publications, and an updated bibliography. The second edition includes a chapter on seasonal rhythm, material derived from Patterson’s post-1991 publications, and an updated bibliography.

The British Heroic Age

The British Heroic Age
Author: Flint F. Johnson
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786495227

Drawing on historical documents, legends, archeology and literature, this history describes the disintegration of Roman Britain that reached a climax in the decades after the Britons overthrew Constantine's government and were refused Roman rule. Beginning with the weakening of Roman Britain, the author chronicles the breakdown of the empire's social, political and economic order and the re-emergence of British political, economic and social structure as well as a parallel development among the Germanic invaders. The roles of religion, disease, the military, the Irish and the Picts during the 4th through 7th centuries are examined. This study synthesizes advances in post-Roman studies since Leslie Alcock's 1971 classic Arthur's Britain.

Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom

Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom
Author: Fiona Edmonds
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2019
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783273364

WINNER OF THE FRANK WATSON BOOK PRIZE 2021. SHORTLISTED IN SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2021 The first full-scale, interdisciplinary treatment of the wide-ranging connections between the Gaelic world and the Northumbrian kingdom.

Places of Special Virtue

Places of Special Virtue
Author: Alasdair Whittle
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2017-02-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 178570544X

This volume explores the landscape settings of megalithic chambered monuments in Wales. Set against a broader theoretical discussion on the significance of the landscape, the authors consider the role of visual landscapes in prehistory, meanings attached to the landscape, and the values and beliefs invested in it. Wales is rich in Neolithic monuments, but the general absence of certain classic monumental forms found in the rest of Britain and Ireland, such as causewayed enclosures, henges, and cursus monuments, seems to have marginalized the Welsh record from many wider discussions on the Neolithic. Instead of seeing Wales as an area which lacks many of these 'classic' components, Cummings and Whittle argue that Wales has its own unique and individual Neolithic which is simply different from the Neolithic found further to the east. It is suggested that this difference may relate to an essentially mobile existence, with strong links back to the Mesolithic period. The authors present three detailed case studies, examining the settings of sites in southwest, northwest and southeast Wales. They outline the history of research for each region, including the previous classification of the monuments and any excavations, and describe the specific landscape settings of the monuments. They assess the significance of a variety of landscape features which would have been visible from the monuments, in particular emphasizing the mythological and symbolic significance of the sea, rivers and mountains. An illustrated inventory of sites completes the volume.

Mining and Quarrying in Neolithic Europe

Mining and Quarrying in Neolithic Europe
Author: Anne Teather
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2019-06-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789251516

The social processes involved in acquiring flint and stone in the Neolithic began to be considered over thirty years ago, promoting a more dynamic view of past extraction processes. Whether by quarrying, mining or surface retrieval, the geographic source locations of raw materials and their resultant archaeological sites have been approached from different methodological and theoretical perspectives. In recent years this has included the exploration of previously undiscovered sites, refined radiocarbon dating, comparative ethnographic analysis and novel analytical approaches to stone tool manufacture and provenancing. The aim of this volume in the Neolithic Studies Group Papers is to explore these new findings on extraction sites and their products. How did the acquisition of raw materials fit into other aspects of Neolithic life and social networks? How did these activities merge in creating material items that underpinned cosmology, status and identity? What are the geographic similarities, constraints and variables between the various raw materials, and how does the practise of stone extraction in the UK relate to wider extractive traditions in northwestern Europe? Eight papers address these questions and act as a useful overview of the current state of research on the topic.

A New History of Ireland, Volume I

A New History of Ireland, Volume I
Author: Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2005-02-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191543454

A New History of Ireland is the largest scholarly project in modern Irish history. In 9 volumes, it provides a comprehensive new synthesis of modern scholarship on every aspect of Irish history and prehistory, from the earliest geological and archaeological evidence, through the Middle Ages, down to the present day. Volume I begins by looking at geography and the physical environment. Chapters follow that examine pre-3000, neolithic, bronze-age and iron-age Ireland and Ireland up to 800. Society, laws, church and politics are all analysed separately as are architecture, literature, manuscripts, language, coins and music. The volume is brought up to 1166 with chapters, amongst others, on the Vikings, Ireland and its neighbours, and opposition to the High-Kings. A final chapter moves further on in time, examining Latin learning and literature in Ireland to 1500.