Outline
The Cultivating Societies project will examine the extent, nature and timing of Neolithic farming in Ireland through the collation, integration and analysis of unpublished and published data (archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, palaeoecological, C14, stable isotope, and archaeological data) from the commercial, state, and academic sectors. Integration of these varied lines of evidence is enabled by bringing together international researchers from a range of backgrounds. The project will investigate relationships between economy, landscape and settlement against a wider palaeoenvironmental backdrop, and explore implications for the roles and perceived importance of ritual and domestic spheres during the Neolithic.
Aims
- establish a database of plant macro-remains from published and unpublished sources;
- directly date (AMS 14C) cereal remains from selected sites;
- identify possible manuring and/or other management practices via stable isotope analyses of selected seed assemblages and analysis of weed assemblages;
- re-evaluate the Irish palaeoecological record for information on the environmental and landscape context of farming, via the Irish pollen database and other palaeoecological sources, such as bog surface wetness curves and dendrochronological data held at QUB, creating diagrams in space/time;
- collate existing published pastoral and human bone/dietary evidence;
- collate the available archaeological evidence for settlement and landscapes in Neolithic Ireland in the context of the above data.
Objectives
- investigate the timing, nature and type (e.g. intensive/extensive) of Neolithic farming across different regions of Ireland;
- investigate any associations between varying farming strategies and different site-types (e.g. houses, pit complexes, ceremonial sites);
- examine effects on the landscape of these activities and relationships against wider environmental trends in Ireland and the North Atlantic region;
- investigate wider social implications regarding the transition and development of the Irish Neolithic, relationships between ‘domestic’ and ‘ritual’ spheres, and how farming practices may have contributed to the creation and maintenance of identities;
- compare the Irish evidence with that from Britain and the Continent.