Unexpected Encounters with Deep Time Enchantment. Bog Bodies, Crannogs and ‘Otherworldly’ sites. The materializing powers of disjunctures in time

ABSTRACT

The topic of ‘deep time’ has recently gained attention in the field of environmental humanities. In contrast, heritage studies have a narrower focus on the role of the past in the present. This paper probes into how encounters with deep time, archaeology and heritage could play a role in environmental ethics and issues of intergenerational justice and care. People’s meetings with intermingled temporalities, and collisions of past and present, are highlighted through the peculiar and disruptive affect of exceptional preservation in crannogs, bog bodies, wetlands and lakes. It is argued that such archaeology has the potential to produce ‘enchantment’ effects, understood as energising moments of startling presence, which can be powerfully deployed to move people from ethical thinking and reflection towards ethical action. However, in order to acknowledge the particular power of deep-time archaeological effects, and to realise the potentialities of heritage, it needs to be approached differently.

KEYWORDS:

• Hauntology
• enchantment
• presentism
• heritage
• environmental humanities
• inter-generational ethics

Acknowledgements

This paper is much inspired by the discussions and comments that were generously given when an earlier version was presented at the 2015 seminar series Unexpected Encounters with Deep Time – Enchantment, led by Michelle Bastian and David Farrier of the Edinburgh Environmental Humanities network. Thanks also to the SeedBox at Linköping University. An enormous gratitude is expressed towards my peer reviewers. Particular thanks go to Melanie Giles and Caitlín Browne at Roscommon Co. Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christina Fredengren

Christina Fredengren is associate professor at the Archaeological Research Laboratory at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, and is board member and scientific director at the SeedBox, an Environmental Humanities collaboratory at Linköping University. Christina has been a director at the Discovery Programme, Ireland’s research institute in archaeology, and has a long experience from working at a senior position in the heritage field.