Fraser, S. Marguerite. (1998). The Public forum and the space between:. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64. Vol 64, pp. 203-224.

Title:

The Public forum and the space between:

Subtitle:

the materiality of social strategy in the Irish Neolithic

Issue:

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64

Series:

The Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Volume:

Page Start/End:

203 - 224

Biblio Note

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Publication Type:

Journal

Abstract:

Framed within an interpretive, humanistic `archaeology of inhabitance', the study explores the means by which a social, intellectual order particular to time and place is embedded within the material universe. Through the mediation of the human body, natural and architectural space is considered to be a medium for the production and reproduction of social relations. The specific materiality of places inhabited in the past is explored in detail, focusing on possibilities for and constraints upon the body and the senses.\r\n The phenomenon of monumentality at the Loughcrew passage tomb cemetery in east-central Ireland is considered in the context of changing narratives of place and biographies of person and landscape. In contrast to many previous studies, the focus is upon engagement with the exterior spaces of the complex: the more frequent and larger-scale involvement of the communal body in these `public' spaces will have played a critical role in the validation of knowledges and claims to authority which a more restricted group will have articulated within the confines of tomb chambers and passages. \r\n The earlier tombs draw out qualities latent within the landscape, placing particular emphasis on prior, natural boundaries. Through time, the regionalisation of the Loughcrew hills acquires increasing architectural definition, by means of which a series of interconnecting spaces emerge at a much more human scale. The latest architectural and spatial developments may well form part of material strategies through which were engendered particular structures of authority carrying the potential for substantially heightened individual prominence within increasingly exclusive kinship solidarities. Ultimately, mediation between the physical and metaphysical elements of existence may be controlled with reference to distinct lines of descent rather than to a more generalised ancestral community. At the same time, the range of hills is gradually transformed from a meaningful locus which conceals within it the human efforts of monumental construction, to a landscape that derives its significance from massive summit cairns visible from considerable distances. This appropriative transformation may be seen as a material strategy which moves communities' conceptions of existence from an integrated, cultural whole in which people and landscape are embedded in each other, towards a vision of individuals and places as increasingly separate and self-contained.

Author:

Shannon Marguerite Fraser

Year of Publication:

1998

Subjects / Periods:

Neolithic (BIAB)
	Passage Graves (BIAB)
	Social Archaeology (BIAB)
	Theoretical Archaeology (BIAB)
Tomb Chambers (Auto Detected Subject)
Forum (Auto Detected Subject)
Tomb Cemetery (Auto Detected Subject)
Cairns (Auto Detected Subject)

Source:

BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))

Created Date:

07 Mar 2001