Eugene Costello
Biographic Data
| ID | 190311 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Eugene Costello |
| GIVEN NAMES | Eugene |
| FAMILY NAME | Costello |
| SIGNATURE | COSTELLO E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College Cork |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1084-7585 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Tracking medieval and early modern expansion of livestock farming in Sweden’s boreal forest: Two high-resolution studies of pollen, coprophilous fungi and charcoal from Hälsingland and Jämtland
Today much of northern Europe’s boreal forest is managed for commercial forestry. But up to the early 20th century it was a landscape of smallholder farming, with rearing of cattle, goats and sheep the key economic activity. In the boreal forest ‘outlands’ of central Sweden, previous palaeoecological research has shown there to be a long history to this farming, stretching back to the 1st millennium ad in many areas, and the 1st millennium bc in …
People and Agrarian Landscapes: An Archaeology of Postclassical Local Societies in the Western Mediterranean
Skills of the unskilled: Working with livestock in medieval Northern Europe
Richard Oram ( ed), ‘With our backs to the ocean’: Land, lordship, climate change, and environment in the north-west European past. Essays in memory of Alasdair Ross
Dating and Interpreting Landscapes of Livestock Herding: Excavation of a Hut Site and Enclosure in Southwestern Ireland
Grazing livestock in uplands was a widespread practice in late Medieval and early modern Europe, but there can be uncertainty about the date and function of archaeological sites associated with herding. This paper reviews fieldwork on such sites in northern and northwestern Europe and reports on the excavation of a hut and enclosure in the mountains of southwestern Ireland. The hut was found to have been built in the 16th or 17th centuries a.d. a…
Adapting to the Little Ice Age in pastoral regions: An interdisciplinary approach to climate history in north-west Europe
This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regions where livestock farming was dominant, a neglected subject due to the scarcity of detailed written records regarding pastoral land use. It argues that landscape-level histories which include pollen evidence and archaeology can address this challenge and reveal local processes of climate adaptation. Here we focus on Ireland and Scotland and a fascina…
Agriculture and the Integration of British Colonial Migrants in Early Modern Ireland
This article offers a critical re-examination of Early Modern migrations to Ireland and their effect on farming practices, c.1580–1660. During and after the English conquest of Ireland, tens and eventually hundreds of thousands of settlers arrived from Britain. Focusing on Munster and to a lesser extent Ulster, I argue they were not greeted with an agricultural tabula rasa ripe for ‘improvement’. In contrast to what Tudor writers claimed, and wha…
The Colonisation of Uplands in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Climate, Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation
THE STUDY OF HOW MEDIEVAL FARMERS colonised upland environments, and lived there on a year-round basis, can provide valuable insights on the long-term adaptability and resilience of rural communities. Yet there is a lack of clarity on the extent and chronology of this phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, and how to explain it without simplistic climate, population or market determinism. By undertaking a critical review of the evidence for upland co…
Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550–1900
First full survey of how transhumance operated in Ireland from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth
Hill farmers, habitats and time: The potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation
This article responds to calls for the historical sciences to inform adaptation in the Anthropocene, in this case, the sustainability of hill farming in view of EU habitat conservation. Focusing on Kerry, Ireland, it highlights the difficulties that conservation of upland bog, heath and grassland habitats faces due to rural depopulation. It then uses landscape history to assess the long-term feasibility of conserving/restoring these habitats acco…
Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550-1900
Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance Across Europe
Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe
This article investigates the socio-cultural role of temporary habitation sites associated with short-distance transhumance in upland and outland pastures of northern Europe. Comparing recent archaeological fieldwork with neglected ethnohistorical information, the author discusses the extraordinary social and sexual freedoms which unmarried young people – particularly young women – experienced in summer pastures of post-medieval Ireland, Scotland…
Medieval memories and the reformation of religious identity: Catholic and Anglican interactions with parish church sites in County Limerick, Ireland
This paper examines parish church sites in County Limerick and their evolving meanings as a result of Ireland’s unsuccessful Protestant Reformation. Unusually for Europe, most Irish parish churches fell into ruin from 1550 to 1700. Conquest, loss of patronage and the Anglican Church of Ireland’s failure to convert most native Catholics ensured this eventuality. Nevertheless, local memories continued to draw people to these sites. There is evidenc…
Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland
This article explores the perception and practice of everyday life at transhumant settlements in western Ireland during the period, c.1750-1920 AD. Small-scale summer transhumance to upland pastures was once widespread in Ireland. Dairy cows would be sent by families to hill and mountain commonages, with herders milking the cows and making butter. Recent archaeological and oral historical research has shown that these people dwelled in small stru…
Seasonal settlement and the interpretation of upland archaeology in the Galtee Mountains, Ireland
This paper discusses the complexity of archaeological evidence associated with seasonal upland settlement in Ireland, a subject which has only recently started to come to light. As a result of the lack of attention, many uncertainties remain in the interpretation of upland sites compared to lowland archaeology. The paper uses a case-study of the Galtee Mountains in the south of Ireland, where it focuses on the material culture of transhumance in …
Post-medieval upland settlement and the decline of transhumance: A case-study from the Galtee Mountains, Ireland
This paper examines evidence for transhumance in the Galtee Mountains during the post-medieval period, c. 1600-1900 a.d., and attempts to explain the reasons for its decline. The results of field survey into seasonal upland structures (or booley houses) occupied during this time are discussed while considering the difficulties involved in their identification and dating. In the parish of Kilbeheny, it is shown how a number of these booley houses …
Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550-1900
Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland
This article explores the perception and practice of everyday life at transhumant settlements in western Ireland during the period, c.1750-1920 AD. Small-scale summer transhumance to upland pastures was once widespread in Ireland. Dairy cows would be sent by families to hill and mountain commonages, with herders milking the cows and making butter. Recent archaeological and oral historical research has shown that these people dwelled in small stru…
Hill farmers, habitats and time: The potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation
This article responds to calls for the historical sciences to inform adaptation in the Anthropocene, in this case, the sustainability of hill farming in view of EU habitat conservation. Focusing on Kerry, Ireland, it highlights the difficulties that conservation of upland bog, heath and grassland habitats faces due to rural depopulation. It then uses landscape history to assess the long-term feasibility of conserving/restoring these habitats acco…
The Colonisation of Uplands in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Climate, Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation
THE STUDY OF HOW MEDIEVAL FARMERS colonised upland environments, and lived there on a year-round basis, can provide valuable insights on the long-term adaptability and resilience of rural communities. Yet there is a lack of clarity on the extent and chronology of this phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, and how to explain it without simplistic climate, population or market determinism. By undertaking a critical review of the evidence for upland co…
Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe
This article investigates the socio-cultural role of temporary habitation sites associated with short-distance transhumance in upland and outland pastures of northern Europe. Comparing recent archaeological fieldwork with neglected ethnohistorical information, the author discusses the extraordinary social and sexual freedoms which unmarried young people – particularly young women – experienced in summer pastures of post-medieval Ireland, Scotland…
Post-medieval upland settlement and the decline of transhumance: A case-study from the Galtee Mountains, Ireland
This paper examines evidence for transhumance in the Galtee Mountains during the post-medieval period, c. 1600-1900 a.d., and attempts to explain the reasons for its decline. The results of field survey into seasonal upland structures (or booley houses) occupied during this time are discussed while considering the difficulties involved in their identification and dating. In the parish of Kilbeheny, it is shown how a number of these booley houses …
Seasonal settlement and the interpretation of upland archaeology in the Galtee Mountains, Ireland
This paper discusses the complexity of archaeological evidence associated with seasonal upland settlement in Ireland, a subject which has only recently started to come to light. As a result of the lack of attention, many uncertainties remain in the interpretation of upland sites compared to lowland archaeology. The paper uses a case-study of the Galtee Mountains in the south of Ireland, where it focuses on the material culture of transhumance in …
Medieval memories and the reformation of religious identity: Catholic and Anglican interactions with parish church sites in County Limerick, Ireland
This paper examines parish church sites in County Limerick and their evolving meanings as a result of Ireland’s unsuccessful Protestant Reformation. Unusually for Europe, most Irish parish churches fell into ruin from 1550 to 1700. Conquest, loss of patronage and the Anglican Church of Ireland’s failure to convert most native Catholics ensured this eventuality. Nevertheless, local memories continued to draw people to these sites. There is evidenc…
Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland
This article explores the perception and practice of everyday life at transhumant settlements in western Ireland during the period, c.1750-1920 AD. Small-scale summer transhumance to upland pastures was once widespread in Ireland. Dairy cows would be sent by families to hill and mountain commonages, with herders milking the cows and making butter. Recent archaeological and oral historical research has shown that these people dwelled in small stru…
Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance Across Europe
Temporary freedoms? Ethnoarchaeology of female herders at seasonal sites in northern Europe
This article investigates the socio-cultural role of temporary habitation sites associated with short-distance transhumance in upland and outland pastures of northern Europe. Comparing recent archaeological fieldwork with neglected ethnohistorical information, the author discusses the extraordinary social and sexual freedoms which unmarried young people – particularly young women – experienced in summer pastures of post-medieval Ireland, Scotland…
Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550–1900
First full survey of how transhumance operated in Ireland from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth
Hill farmers, habitats and time: The potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation
This article responds to calls for the historical sciences to inform adaptation in the Anthropocene, in this case, the sustainability of hill farming in view of EU habitat conservation. Focusing on Kerry, Ireland, it highlights the difficulties that conservation of upland bog, heath and grassland habitats faces due to rural depopulation. It then uses landscape history to assess the long-term feasibility of conserving/restoring these habitats acco…
Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, 1550-1900
The Colonisation of Uplands in Medieval Britain and Ireland: Climate, Agriculture and Environmental Adaptation
THE STUDY OF HOW MEDIEVAL FARMERS colonised upland environments, and lived there on a year-round basis, can provide valuable insights on the long-term adaptability and resilience of rural communities. Yet there is a lack of clarity on the extent and chronology of this phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, and how to explain it without simplistic climate, population or market determinism. By undertaking a critical review of the evidence for upland co…
Agriculture and the Integration of British Colonial Migrants in Early Modern Ireland
This article offers a critical re-examination of Early Modern migrations to Ireland and their effect on farming practices, c.1580–1660. During and after the English conquest of Ireland, tens and eventually hundreds of thousands of settlers arrived from Britain. Focusing on Munster and to a lesser extent Ulster, I argue they were not greeted with an agricultural tabula rasa ripe for ‘improvement’. In contrast to what Tudor writers claimed, and wha…
Adapting to the Little Ice Age in pastoral regions: An interdisciplinary approach to climate history in north-west Europe
This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regions where livestock farming was dominant, a neglected subject due to the scarcity of detailed written records regarding pastoral land use. It argues that landscape-level histories which include pollen evidence and archaeology can address this challenge and reveal local processes of climate adaptation. Here we focus on Ireland and Scotland and a fascina…
Richard Oram ( ed), ‘With our backs to the ocean’: Land, lordship, climate change, and environment in the north-west European past. Essays in memory of Alasdair Ross
Dating and Interpreting Landscapes of Livestock Herding: Excavation of a Hut Site and Enclosure in Southwestern Ireland
Grazing livestock in uplands was a widespread practice in late Medieval and early modern Europe, but there can be uncertainty about the date and function of archaeological sites associated with herding. This paper reviews fieldwork on such sites in northern and northwestern Europe and reports on the excavation of a hut and enclosure in the mountains of southwestern Ireland. The hut was found to have been built in the 16th or 17th centuries a.d. a…
People and Agrarian Landscapes: An Archaeology of Postclassical Local Societies in the Western Mediterranean
Skills of the unskilled: Working with livestock in medieval Northern Europe
Tracking medieval and early modern expansion of livestock farming in Sweden’s boreal forest: Two high-resolution studies of pollen, coprophilous fungi and charcoal from Hälsingland and Jämtland
Today much of northern Europe’s boreal forest is managed for commercial forestry. But up to the early 20th century it was a landscape of smallholder farming, with rearing of cattle, goats and sheep the key economic activity. In the boreal forest ‘outlands’ of central Sweden, previous palaeoecological research has shown there to be a long history to this farming, stretching back to the 1st millennium ad in many areas, and the 1st millennium bc in …
Geography (15 works) · Archaeology (13 works) · History (9 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Agriculture (7 works) · History (7 works) · Livestock (6 works) · Ecology (4 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (4 works) · Political science (4 works)