People, place and time on the Shannon estuary
Principal investigator
Aidan O’Sullivan
Funding
The Discovery Programme
Abstract
The Shannon estuary today is a waterlogged landscape of grey, muddy water, mudflats and marshes on the south-west coast of Ireland. Between 1992-2000, the Discovery Programme’s North Munster Project carried out a pioneering intertidal archaeological survey on the estuary’s mudflats, revealing spectacularly preserved archaeological evidence for human activities in its marshlands from early prehistory to modern times. Archaeological sites investigated include an enigmatic Neolithic submerged forests, deposits of animal bone and a wetland occupation or mortuary site, as well as Late Bronze Age houses and trackways that indicate a range of social, economic and ritual activities in the marshes. Early medieval wooden fishtraps testify to the work of local fishing communities, as well as the role of work and practice in people’s sense of identity and place over hundreds of years. Post-medieval fishtraps demonstrate the importance of tradition and continuity amongst local communities, and also hint at conflict and class struggle in the exploitation of the estuary’s rich fishing resources. Historical studies of the estuary’s post-medieval shipwrecks have also testified to its role as a navigable, if dangerous routeway.
The Shannon estuary survey has been published in O’Sullivan, A. 2001 Foragers, farmers and fishers in a coastal landscape: an intertidal archaeological survey of the Shannon estuary, Discovery Programme/Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. (available from Royal Irish Academy or Amazon