Options
The Social and Technological Context of Iron Production in Iron Age and Early Medieval Ireland c. 600 BC – AD 900
Author(s)
Advisor(s)
Date Issued
2012-04
Date Available
2017-04-19T09:35:33Z
Abstract
This thesis investigates the technology of iron production in Iron Age and early medieval Ireland and, through two case studies, situates iron production in its social context. Archaeological evidence from 202 sites, many recently excavated and unpublished is analysed, allowing the characterisation of the archaeology of Irish smelting and smithing sites, including features such as furnaces and smithing hearths as well as associated finds and structures. An Iron Age case study focuses on an iron producing region in the Irish midlands. This area has produced a significant number of dispersed, isolated and small-scale smelting sites from the period, as well as a very small number of smithing sites associated with ritually significant hilltop sites. It is argued that smith/smelters in the Iron Age of the region played a significant role in what was probably a mobile, pastoral society. They had a dual role as both craft- workers and ritual specialists, smelting iron in isolation before creating desirable objects at places of communal ritual and ceremony. A second case study focuses on the idea of the ironworker as a specialist in early medieval society. It is argued that the role of ironworkers changed significantly at the beginning of the period with the arrival of Christianity and the appropriation of iron technology by the Church, which organised the first large-scale specialist smithing in the country. As the period progressed smithing became a more common activity, carried out by a spectrum of workers including high-status secular smiths working on a very large-scale.
Sponsorship
Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Other Sponsorship
National University of Ireland
Type of Material
Doctoral Thesis
Publisher
University College Dublin. School of Archaeology
Qualification Name
Ph.D.
Copyright (Published Version)
2012 the author
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
File(s)
No Thumbnail Available
Name
Dolan_2012 The Social and Technological Context of Iron Production_Vol. 1.pdf
Description
Volume 1
Size
2.06 MB
Format
No Thumbnail Available
Name
Dolan_2012 The Social and Technological Context of Iron Production_Vol. 2.pdf
Description
Volume 2
Size
33.39 MB
Format
Owning collection
Views
1994
Last Week
3
3
Last Month
4
4
Acquisition Date
Mar 29, 2024
Mar 29, 2024
Downloads
2267
Last Week
10
10
Last Month
24
24
Acquisition Date
Mar 29, 2024
Mar 29, 2024