Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award for Erin McDonald: Long Term Interactions Between Social Organization And Land Use Practices

Doctoral dissertation student Erin McDonald, under the supervision of co-PI Dr. Timothy Chevral, will identify shifts in subsistence practices and examine the relationship between subsistence and socio-political organization from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Medieval Period in Ireland. In recent years, archaeologists world-wide have re-opened the debate on how past societies were organized, questioning the validity of assuming that all prehistoric rulers had robust top-down powers within highly hierarchic societies. McDonald, using prehistoric and early historic Ireland as a case study, will assess these relationships through analysis of pollen from bogs near archaeological sites from relevant periods: the Late Bronze Age (11th to 9th centuries BCE), Iron Age (9th cent. BCE to 5th cent. CE), and Early Medieval Period (post 5th cent. CE). In many regions of the developing world today centralized political power is limited and social order is maintained through negotiation across a hierarchical power structure. This research has the potential to provide insight into how such a process functioned across time. In comparison with earlier and later periods, the Iron Age saw unusual peaks in ritual activity at elite civic-ceremonial sites, and increased evidence for metal production, acquisition and trade, all suggesting major socio-political reorganization. The complex politics of the Iron Age are the focus of many Early Medieval Irish sagas, yet the reality of the Iron Age is poorly understood due to a lack of archaeological sites other than political and ceremonial hubs. The number of known Iron Age settlements expanded during the late 20th century Irish economic boom, yet little is understood about how the society worked. Were peaks and lulls in activity at political centers paralleled by increases in workload and effort in farming and herding communities? If so, farmers might have been called to produce more for tribute or taxes to support an elite. If not, the reach of government was less than is often assumed. If there are parallels, the directionality and timing of change is important. It is commonly assumed that rulers command increased production, but it can also be the case that pre-existing productivity among farmers enables the rise of elites. To compensate for gaps in archaeological knowledge, these research questions are approached through analysis of ancient pollen, drawn from stratified, datable cores close to archaeological sites. Pollen grains, resistant to decay, continuously accumulate in the Irish Midlands peat bogs, preserving long chronological sequences. McDonald, a trained palynologist, will identify pollen types and frequency through high-powered microscopy, and samples will be dated through tephrochronology and AMS 14C dating of plant macrofossils. Resulting data enables reconstruction of climate, environmental conditions, and increases and decreases in plants associated with crop cultivation and pasturage at each settlement locale. In addition to information on the relationship between governments and taxpayers, the project will create a series of classroom lesson plans and YouTube videos aimed at elementary and middle school children, introducing archaeological methods and past cultures, enhancing competencies in science, social studies, math, and language arts.