Conveying identity through place: Understanding Bronze Age people via nucleated settlements

The Irish Bronze Age covers nearly two millennia, from 2200–750 BC. During this period, changing cultural customs, such as developments in domestic architecture, suggest an increase in social stratification. Two settlement types, the roundhouse farmstead, and the hillfort, have provided primary evidence for developing Bronze Age theories of society, which include heterarchical and hierarchal interpretations. Recent evidence for a third settlement type, the nucleated settlement, suggests a more complex societal narrative than previously thought. Consisting of 20 to upwards of 200 agglomerated roundhouses, the nucleated settlements have an average area of 12 hectares. They may loosely be thought of as ‘villages’ which is a radically different concept to the more familiar concepts of dispersed farmsteads and hillforts. Evidence for at least nine nucleated settlements has been found across Ireland in a range of landscapes, from coastal areas to hilltops, but they have not been considered as a coherent group. As such, this project focuses on compiling comprehensive data for the sites via fieldwork, desk-top research, and GIS (Geographic Information System) landscape analysis. A comparative analysis of the data will then help to better understand how the nucleated settlements relate to each other and to their landscapes. Interpretive results will help to establish the role of nucleated settlements within Irish Bronze Age society, with a focus on sense of place and impact on identity. Furthermore, the results will allow connections to be made with similar settlement types found in the wider European Bronze Age.

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

cbn

Collections

University of Galway Theses (PhD Theses)