Dating and Interpreting Landscapes of Livestock Herding

Excavation of a Hut Site and Enclosure in Southwestern Ireland

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6435583
AutoresEugene Costello (0000-0002-1084-7585, University College Cork, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume50
Fascículo2
Páginas181-198
Data de publicação2024-09-16
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Field Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0093-4690 • E-ISSN: 2042-4582
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00934690.2024.2397863
OpenAlexW4402799646
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas36

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. and was probably used to oversee dairy animals (likely cows). The enclosure was dated to the early 18th or early–mid-19th century a.d. and is more likely associated with goat milking. The excavations demonstrate that construction dates can be obtained for pastoral sites in uplands of northwestern Europe. Furthermore, with careful reading of features in the surrounding landscape and consideration of documentary and ethnographic evidence, fieldwork can help determine the nature of pastoral economies over time

Archaeology · Enclosure · Excavation · Geography · Herding · Livestock · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Forestry · Geology · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology