Ritual in Late Bronze Age Ireland

Material Culture, Practices, Landscape Setting and Social Context

Katherine Leonard

• Publisher: Archaeopress
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781784912208
• eBook ISBN:
  9781784912215
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This text develops a new perspective on Late Bronze Age (LBA) Ireland by identifying and analysing patterns of ritual practice in the archaeological record. The bookends of this study are the introduction of the bronze slashing sword to Ireland at around 1200 BC and the introduction and proliferation of iron technology beginning around 600 BC. Therefore, it is societal change related to new technology which defines the period discussed as the Irish Late Bronze Age (LBA) herein. Ritual practices find expression in a range of contexts which can be studied separately. However, they require an overarching, integrated ritual system to contextualise and attempt to understand their broader purpose. Similar rituals were consistently enacted in similar locations across the island of Ireland in the LBA. This indicates shared understanding of the way to enact certain rituals as well as shared understanding of what these practices would achieve.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright page
• Contents page
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1.0 Addressing ritual in archaeology
• Chapter 2.0 Ritual practice in Late Bronze Age Ireland
• Fig.1 Distribution of BA Atlantic Buckets and Cauldrons (Gerloff 2010 Plate 144)
• Fig.2 Class B0 Type Cloonta Caudron, from above and side
• Fig.3 Developmental timeline of BA Atlantic Buckets (Gerloff 2010 Plate 167)
• Fig.4 Atlantic BA bucket Downhill, Co. Derry c. 900-700 BC
• Fig.5 LBA flesh-hook from Dunaverney, Co. Armagh
• Fig.6 Distribution of Atlantic flesh-hooks and spits (Needham and Bowman 2005, 125)
• Fig.7 Class 1 and 2 Atlantic flesh-hooks (Needham and Bowman 2005, 112)
• Fig.8 Class 3-5 Atlantic flesh-hooks (Needham and Bowman 2005, 112)
• Fig.9 Spit and flesh-hook distribution (Needham and Bowman 2005, 125) with cauldron and bucket distribution in light grey (from Gerloff 2010, Plate 144)
• Fig.10 From measurements in Gerloff (2010)
• Fig.11 Simplified scheme of depositional patterns in the Irish BA
• Fig.12 Four-flanged bar-torc, Corrard, Co. Fermanagh (The History Blog 2012)
• Fig.13 LBA bronze sword from Nooan td., Co. Clare (Clare County Library 2013b)
• Fig. 14 The two hoards from Downpatrick, Co. Down (Waddell 1998, 199 Fig. 79)
• Fig. 15 Deliberately fragmented palstave axe from House 1, Ballyprior Beg, Co. Antrim (Suddaby et al. 2003, 77 Fig. 16)
• Fig. 16 The hoard from Dooyork, Co. Mayo (Cahill 2002, 120)
• Fig.17 Barrow and Ring-Ditch classification (Newman 1997b, 156)
• Fig. 19 Two boulder burials and a standing stone located within a stone circle, Uragh townland, Co. Kerry (O’Sullivan and Downey 2003, 30 Fig. 2)
• Fig.18 Water filled ring-barrow near Doolin, Co. Clare (SMR No. CL008-086)
• Fig. 20 Bronze shield, Lough Gur, Co. Limerick (Waddell 2010, 253, Fig. 7.15)
• Fig.21 Sunflower Pin Detail, Lahardan townland, Co. Clare (Clare County Library 2013a)
• Fig.22 Detail of Trunholm Sun Chariot disc (National Museum of Denmark 2013b)
• Fig.23 Gold Disc from Lattoon, Co. Cavan (Waddell 2010, 257, Fig. 7.19)
• Fig. 24 Possible inauguration sites in Co. Clare (FitzPatrick 2004), with current SMR data and artefact find spots from Gibbo s et al. (1999)
• Fig.25 Cloncreen Bog, artefact 1 (Corcoran 2003, 13)
• Fig.26 LBA House Urns, N. Europe (Bradley 2002, 375)
• Fig.27 EBA Encrusted Urn, Ireland (Lynn 1993, 73)
• Chapter 3.0 The landscape setting of ritual in
• Late Bronze Age Ireland
• Fig. 28 Distribution of hillforts and hilltop enclosures as categorised in the SMR and data from Jones (2004) (Question mark refers to Caherballykinvarga; possible capital of the 8th century Corcu Modruad chiefdom which may have prehistoric ‘roots’)
• Fig. 29 Possible routes through prehistoric Co. Clare from Jones (2004) with current SMR data and artefact findspots from Gibons et al. (1999)
• Fig.30 Possible main routes through prehistoric Ireland; after Jones (2009)
• Fig. 31 Gleninsheen gorget (O’Toole 2012)
• Fig. 32 Objects from the Gorteenreagh hoard as possibly worn (Waddell 2010, 256 Fig. 7.18)
• Fig. 33 Barrows and Ring-ditches in Co. Clare as categorised in the SMR
• Fig.34 DTM of Elton ring-barrow cemetery Co. Limerick (Doody 1999, 97, Fig.1)
• Fig.35 Navan Complex with forts circled and locations of wet deposition marked with a star (Waddell 1998, 333 Fig. 163)
• Fig. 36 Possible method of affixing double perforated cowrie shells with detail showing perforation (drawing by A.Brewer in Dowd 2006a, Figure 27)
• Fig. 38 Detail of perforated periwinkle and cowrie shells from LBA area of Glencurran Cave (Dowd 2006a, Plate 17)
• Fig.37 Photo showing perforated periwinkle and cowrie shells, adjacent to skull fragment of 2-4 year old, in situ in the LBA area of Glencurran Cave, Co. Clare, from Dowd (2006a, Plate 16)
• Chapter 4.0 The social context of ritual practice in Late Bronze Age Ireland
• Fig.39 Leaf-shaped, flange-hilted bronze sword from Kilkee townland, Co. Clare (note use-wear edge-notching) (Clare County Library 2013c)
• Fig.40 Lisdromturk, Ireland; 700-600 BC (Gerloff 2010 Plate 79)
• Fig.41 Sipbachzell, Austria; Hallstatt A (Gerloff 2010 Plate 163)
• Fig.42 Greek Cauldron from Hochdorf tumulus, Germany
• Chapter 5.0 Ritual in Late Bronze Age Ireland
• References