800 Years of Making: Early Medieval Craftworking and an 8th-Century Decline in Ireland

Abstract

METHODOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN STATISTICAL MODELLING of chronological data have enabled fresh perspectives of the past to be gained from the analysis of large numbers of radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dates. A new analysis of radiocarbon dates associated with craftworking activities — handicrafts like antler-working or wood-working and metalworking technologies — from Irish sites of early medieval date is presented using a bootstrapped kernel density estimation (KDE) method. These models are used to assess whether the arrival of urbanism to Ireland in the 10th century brought about a major change to craftworking traditions, and to build a new and nuanced understanding of long-term trends at both secular and ecclesiastical sites of the period. These are shown to have differed, especially in the 8th century, at a crucial point in time. The findings add to the emerging narrative of demographic ‘decline’ from similar data-driven investigations of Ireland’s early medieval past, which pinpoint the beginning of the 8th century as a seminal moment of change. Crucially, however, they also reveal a more complex pattern of change involving a combination of processes, independent of urban development, but related to demographics, socio-economic re-organisation, changing settlement patterns, and the influence of the Church.

Résumé

800 ans de façonnage: travail artisanal au Haut Moyen-Âge et déclin au 8e siècle en Irlande par Emma Hannah

Les avancées méthodologiques réalisées dans la modélisation statistique des données chronologiques ont permis d’obtenir un nouvel éclairage sur les périodes historiques à partir de l’analyse d’un grand nombre de datations au radiocarbone (¹⁴C). Une nouvelle analyse de datations au carbone 14 associées aux activités artisanales —telles que la sculpture de ramure, du bois et les technologies métallurgiques — de sites irlandais du début du Moyen-Âge est présentée en utilisant une méthode d’estimation du noyau de densité (KDE) par bootstrap (autoamorçage). Ces modèles servent à analyser si l’arrivée de l’urbanisme en Irlande au 10^e siècle a introduit un changement majeur au niveau des traditions artisanales, et à établir une nouvelle interprétation nuancée des tendances à long terme sur les sites séculaires et ecclésiastiques de cette période. On voit que ces dernières ont différé, particulièrement au 8^e siècle, à un moment crucial. Les résultats viennent renforcer le discours émergeant d’un « déclin » démographique émanant d’études similaires sur des données du Haut Moyen-Âge en Irlande, qui pointent le début du 8^e siècle comme étant un moment marquant de changement. Cependant, elles révèlent aussi significativement un motif de changement plus complexe faisant intervenir une combinaison de processus qui sont indépendants du développement urbain, mais plutôt liés à la démographie, la réorganisation socioéconomique, l’évolution des schémas de peuplement et l’influence de l’Église.

Zussamenfassung

800 Jahre Gestalten: Frühmittelalterliches Kunsthandwerk und dessen Niedergang im Irland des 8. Jahrhunderts von Emma Hannah

Methodologische Fortschritte bei der statistischen Modellierung chronologischer Daten haben es ermöglicht, aus der Analyse zahlreicher Radiokarbondaten (¹⁴C) neue Perspektiven auf die Vergangenheit zu gewinnen. Hier werden die Ergebnisse einer mittels Kerndichteschätzung (KDE) mit Bootstrapping vorgenommenen neuen Analyse von Radiokarbondaten frühmittelalterlicher irischer Fundorte vorgestellt, die zu handwerklichen Tätigkeiten – Kunsthandwerk wie die Geweihbearbeitung oder Techniken der Holz- und Metallbearbeitung – einen Bezug haben. Diese Modelle werden herangezogen, um festzustellen, ob der Einzug des Urbanismus im Irland des 10. Jahrhunderts zu einem Umbruch in den kunsthandwerklichen Traditionen führte, und um ein neues, differenziertes Verständnis der langfristigen Tendenzen in den weltlichen und kirchlichen Stätten der damaligen Zeit aufzubauen. Es wird gezeigt, dass es hier zu einem entscheidenden Zeitpunkt Unterschiede gab, insbesondere im 8. Jahrhundert. Die Ergebnisse ergänzen das Narrativ eines demografischen ”Niedergangs”, das sich aus ähnlichen datengestützten Untersuchungen der frühmittelalterlichen Vergangenheit Irlands ergibt, die den Beginn des 8. Jahrhunderts als Schlüsselmoment des Wandels identifizieren. Bezeichnenderweise bringen die Ergebnisse jedoch auch ein komplexeres Muster an Veränderungen zum Vorschein, das eine Kombination von Vorgängen beinhaltet, die unabhängig von der Stadtentwicklung waren, jedoch in Zusammenhang mit demografischen Entwicklungen, sozioökonomischer Reorganisation, wechselnden Siedlungsmustern und dem Einfluss der Kirche zu sehen sind.

Riassunto

800 anni di produzione: l’artigianato altomedievale e il declino dell’VIII secolo in Irlanda di Emma Hannah

I progressi metodologici nella modellazione statistica di dati cronologici hanno aperto sul passato nuove prospettive che si possono ottenere dall’analisi di rilevanti quantità di datazioni con radiocarbonio (¹⁴C). Qui vene presentata una nuova analisi di datazione radiometrica associata ad attività artigianali — quali le tecniche di lavorazione del corno o del legno e dei metalli — da siti irlandesi del periodo altomedievale, utilizzando una tecnica statistica di ricampionamento (bootstrap) con il metodo stima kernel di densità. Questi modelli vengono usati sia per valutare se l’arrivo dell’urbanesimo in Irlanda nel X secolo abbia determinato un considerevole cambiamento delle tradizioni artigianali sia per formare una comprensione nuova e ricca di sfumature riguardo alle tendenze durature sia nei siti secolari che in quelli ecclesiastici del periodo. Essi dimostrano di essere stati diversi, specialmente nell’VIII secolo, in un momento cruciale. I ritrovamenti corroborano la narrativa emergente del “declino” demografico che risulta da indagini simili basate su dati riguardanti il passato altomedievale dell’Irlanda, le quali individuano nell’inizio dell’VIII secolo il momento di un cambiamento determinante. Tuttavia, cosa significativa, esse rivelano anche uno schema di cambiamento più complesso che coinvolgeva un insieme di processi indipendenti dallo sviluppo urbano, ma che era legato ai dati demografici, alla riorganizzazione socioeconomica, al cambiamento degli schemi di insediamento e all’influenza della Chiesa.

acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to Drs Finbar McCormick and Rowan McLaughlin for their guidance, support, and comments on this work. Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Digital Repository of Ireland are to be thanked for making many of the unpublished excavation reports widely available online, along with the many archaeologists who have worked on the sites included in this research and have contributed much to our knowledge of early medieval Ireland. This work was undertaken at Queen’s University Belfast and formed part of a doctoral thesis funded by the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium (2016–2020).

Notes

4 See eg Hansen et al 2015; Wright 2019.

5 Kelly 1988, 61–3, 114–16.

6 Warner 2000; King 2009; Kerr et al 2015.

7 See various entries within Kerr et al 2015 site gazetteer.

8 McLoughlin and Kelly 2019; Comber 2008, 124; Carlin et al 2008, 107.

9 O’Sullivan and McCormick 2017, 128–9.

10 Eg Stevens 2017 or Gormley 2017 on jet-like materials.

11 Comber 2008; Kerr et al 2015.

12 See, eg, Kerr 2007 on changing settlement patterns; McCormick 2014 and McClatchie et al 2015 on the shifting emphasis in agricultural practices; or McLaughlin et al 2018 for evidence indicative of declining sociocultural activity in the 9th and 10th centuries ad.

13 Kerr and McCormick 2014, 493–501.

14 Eg McCormick 2008.

15 McLaughlin et al 2018; Hannah and McLaughlin 2019.

16 See Wallace 2016 for finds from Dublin and Hurley et al 1997 for evidence from Waterford.

17 O’Sullivan et al 2014, 245–6; for examples see Hencken 1936, 129; O’Hara 2009, 64, 75–8.

18 O’Sullivan et al 2014, 245–6; O’Sullivan and McCormick 2017, 128–9.

19 Thomas 2011, 407–18.

20 See Butlin 1977; Doherty 1980, 1985; Bradley 1998, 43–7; Soderberg 2004, 2014–15.

21 Gaskell Brown and Harper 1984; Crothers 1999; King 2009; Stevens and Channing 2012.

22 Valante 1998, 9–18; Swift 1998, 106–19; Hall 2005, 5–10; Etchingham 2011, 53; Ó Drisceoil 2013, 124–6; Ó Carragáin 2015, 3–13.

23 Doherty 1980; Downham 2018.

24 See Rick 1987.

25 See Edinborough et al 2017, McLaughlin 2018 and Solheim and Iverson 2019 for examples of dates-as-data approaches that successfully identify historic instances of population fluctuations.

26 Eg Bevan et al 2017; McLaughlin et al 2018; Hannah and McLaughlin 2019; Chapple 2019.

27 See Kenny 2010.

28 Scott 1991, 151; Kenny 2010, 114; Scott and Damblon 2010, 4, 6–7; Wallace and Anguilano 2010, 83.

29 For background on ‘ringforts’, see eg Edwards 1990; Kerr 2007; O’Sullivan et al 2014. On ’non-ringforts’, see eg Kinsella 2010; and on ‘settlement cemeteries’, see eg Stout and Stout 2008; various within Corlett and Potterton 2010; Gleeson 2017, 2018.

30 O’Sullivan et al 2014, 49.

31 See McLaughlin et al 2016, fig 2.

32 Eg Doyle 2009, 25; FitzPatrick 2009, 277, 283; Becker et al 2011, 22–4; McLaughlin et al 2016, 136.

33 Contreras and Meadows 2014, 593–4; Attenbrow and Hiscock 2015, 32–3.

34 Kerr 2007, 100.

35 Timpson et al 2014.

36 See McLaughlin 2020, 9.

37 Ibid.

38 Contreras and Meadows 2014, 602.

39 See Bayliss et al 2013; Kerr and McCormick 2014; Bevan et al 2017; Pilø et al 2018.

40 McLaughlin 2018.

41 Bronk Ramsey 2017; McLaughlin et al 2018; Hannah and McLaughlin 2019; Riris 2019; Feeser et al 2019; Hill et al 2019.

42 Bronk Ramsey 2008.

43 Contreras and Meadows 2014, 599.

44 Reimer et al 2020.

45 See eg Kerr and McCormick 2014.

46 McLaughlin 2020, 9.

47 Crema and Bevan 2020.

48 Warner 1990.

49 McLaughlin et al 2016.

50 See Bayliss et al 2013, 35; Melott and Thomas 2012; Scifo et al 2019.

51 See Hannah 2021.

52 The chronology for charcoal production was first noted by Kenny 2010.

53 Bhreathnach 2014, 16.

54 Downham 2018, 108.

55 Valante 2008, 102, 118.

56 Ó Cróinín 2017, 64–83; Stout 2017, 113; Downham 2018, 80, 91–107.

57 See eg Sheehan 2001; 2007; Knudson et al 2012; O’Sullivan et al 2014, 120.

58 Bhreathnach 2014, 33; Downham 2018, 110–12.

59 O’Sullivan et al 2014, 134–6; for examples see Ó Néill 1999; McConway 2010; Fanning 1988: 11; Comber 2006.

60 Wallace 2008 and Simpson 2012 (Dublin); Cleary and Hurley 2003 and Ní Loingsigh 2014 (Cork); Barry 1997 (Waterford); Bourke 1988/89 (Wexford); Wiggins 2016 (Limerick).

61 Ó Floinn 1998, 162; Wallace 2008, 436–7.

62 Sheehan 2001, 59.

63 Simpson 2012, 106–10.

64 Clinton 2013–14, 130–1.

65 Ibid, 132.

66 Russell and Hurley 2014.

67 Ibid.

68 Gibbons and Gibbons 2008, 27; Simpson 2012, 107, 109–10.

69 Sheehan 1998, 171–5.

70 Edwards 1990, 176; Sheehan 1998, 175–6; Valante 2008, 96.

71 Ó Floinn 1998, 163.

72 See Harney 2017.

73 McLaughlin et al 2018; Hannah and McLaughlin 2019.

74 Brady 2006; Brown and Baillie 2012; Plunkett et al 2013; Guiry et al 2018.

75 McLaughlin et al 2018; Hannah and McLaughlin 2019.

76 Bevan et al 2017; McLaughlin et al 2018, fig 5.

77 See Torfing 2015.

78 Doherty 1998, 323.

79 McClatchie et al 2015, 183–5; McClatchie et al 2019, 71.

80 Ibid.

81 See Hannah 2021.

82 See Coyle McClung 2012 for review of sites.

83 Parkes and Mitchell 2000; Hall and Mauquoy 2005; McLaughlin et al 2018, 15–16.

84 Eg Hall et al 1993; Hall 2005; Overland and O’Connell 2011; Chique et al 2017; See also Coyle McClung and Plunkett 2020.

85 Monk and Power 2012, 40–1.

86 O’Sullivan and McCormick 2017, 124–5.

87 Coyle McClung and Plunkett 2020, 29.

88 See Clinton 2001; Kerr 2007; Dowd 2015.

89 See O’Sullivan 2016.

90 Nelis et al 2014, 151.

91 Ibid, 152–7.

92 Stevens 2009, 20–37; Stevens and Channing 2012, 121–2.

93 O’Sullivan and McCormick 2017, 125.

94 Stevens 2009, 37; Stevens and Channing 2012, 121–4, 133.

95 Ó Carragáin 2010a, 227; 2010b, 218–24.

96 Ibid.

97 Bowen and Dawkes 2011.

98 Ibid.

99 Warner 2000, 44–6.

100 Ibid, 49.

101 Ibid, 49–50.

102 Bhreathnach 2014; Stout 2017, 57–72; Downham 2018, 80, 91–107.

103 Doherty 1980, 81; Ó Cróinín 2017, 64–83.

104 Reference in the Annals of Ulster 891.2; Bambury and Beechinor 2000. Reference in the Annals of the Four Masters 887; O'Donovan 1848, 51. See also Stevens and Channing 2012, 124.

105 Stout 2017, 113, 128–31.

106 McCormick 2008, 222.

107 McLaughlin et al 2018, 15–18.

108 Hannah 2021.