Summary: Historical Archaeology

15557107

Katie McAteer

HISTORICAL WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY

“The period around 1600 saw huge cultural changes in Ireland and America”. Discuss

Historical archaeology has many different definitions, however there has not been one definition widely agreed by archaeologists. A British term has been widely used in Ireland, ‘post - Medieval archaeology’.

“For present purposes, however, we define historical archaeology in the first sense, as the study of the modern world, while also acknowledging the methodological appeal of the broad definition.” - (Historical Archaeology in Ireland - Charles E Orser, Jr., Colm J Donnelly, - 2008 Elsevier inc.)

At the beginning of the 1600’s Ireland was already a part of Europe, however at this time Ireland was under

These schemes were enacted from the 1550’s to 1620, and all were unsuccessful, including the plantation of Ulster in 1609. The newcomers who were planted into Ireland at the time brought many attributes with them. They desired to change the Irish landscape thoroughly, by bringing with them new agricultural and economic practices they thought to be improvements over more traditional Irish methods. Protestantism, however, was introduced to Ulster somewhat successfully, this success was soon diminished as the native Irish living in Ulster remained Catholic, despite the small minority who chose to convert. The environment was also changed by the introduction of new buildings in a different and new style to a typical Irish style. However, even with all these methods being put in place, attracting a sufficient number of settlers failed. “The English planter population were outnumbered, even though they controlled the new landscape they had created as a consequence of their power. Because of their insecurity - a common by-product of colonisation - they were ever watchful of a possible insurrection by the native Irish populace.” - (Historical Archaeology in Ireland - Charles E Orser, Jr., Colm J Donnelly, - 2008 Elsevier

This cultural change is said to have started in 1585, with the attempt to colonise Roanoke Island - “The first English attempt to establish a colony was in 1585 on Roanoke Island, a barrier island belonging in present day North Carolina, a southeast of the Chesapeake Bay. The failure of the Roanoke Colony was followed in 1607 by the founding of James Fort (later referred to as he settlement of James town) on an island in the James River, which flows into the mouth of the Chesapeake.” - (Article: 17th Century Colonisation of the Chesapeake Area - Smithsonian’s The Secret in the Cellar Webcomic, February 2009 -