Conference: The Archaeology of Gatherings

The Archaeology of Gatherings

Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland

25th to 27th October 2013

Conference Abstract

The Archaeology of Gatherings is a thematic international conference to bring together a range of speakers from different disciplines including both academics and professionals.  The aim is to explore the material culture and psychology behind gatherings of people.  With 2013 being the year of 'The Gathering' this theme was chosen to examine why people over millennia have come together, often in large numbers, for religious assemblies, social interaction, to exchange commodities and ideas, along with other reasons such as farewells, wakes, political opposition, inaugurations etc.

Organisers: Sam Moore, Fiona Beglane, Bridget Brennan, Ursula Garner

Applied Archaeology, Dept of Environmental Science, School of Science, IT Sligo, Ash Lane, Sligo, Ireland

Contact us at: archaeologyofgatherings@yahoo.com

Programme

Archaeology of Gatherings Programme: IT Sligo, 25-27th October 2013 

Friday 25th October

9:00pm

Informal drinks, Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo

Saturday 26th October

Session 1:

8:30

Registration

9:30

Opening address

9:40

Dr Jonathan Lanman, Institute of Cognition and Culture, QUB:

Ritual and Divergent Modes of Cohesion

10:00

Dr Hans Hognestad, Centre for Cultural and Sports Studies, Telemark University, Norway:

Identity, power and the sociality of football

10:20

Edel Barry MPhil, Built Heritage Collective Ireland: Gatherings:

The Archaeology of Railways in Ireland

10:40

Dr Robert Hensey, Archaeological Research Professional:

Crowd-sourcing in the Boyne Valley

11:00

Questions

11:10

Tea/Coffee

Session 2:

11:30

Prof Elizabeth FitzPatrick, NUI Galway:

Shifting Territorial Boundaries and Medieval Assembly Places

11:50

Dr Dominic Bryan, Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University Belfast:

Public Space and Power – Ritual and Identity in a ‘Shared’ Belfast

12:10

Prof Stuart Tyson Smith, University of California, Santa Barbara, US:

Colonial Gatherings: The Presentation of Inu in New Kingdom Egypt and the British Imperial Durbar, a Comparison

12:30

Stephen Dixon, MSc, IT Sligo:

Archaeological and anthropological aspects of 'forced gathering' from within the Jewish Holocaust

12:50

Questions

1:00

Lunch with demonstration by Ancient Music Ireland from 1:30

Session 3:

2:15

Keynote Speaker:

Prof. Clark McPhail University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, US:

The Life Course of Temporary Gatherings

2:55

James Bonsall, University of Bradford, Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, Dr. Chris Gaffney, University of Bradford, Prof. Vince Gaffney, University of Birmingham, Heather Gimson, Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics, Robert M. Chapple, William Dunlop Archaeological Photographic Archive, Irish Radiocarbon and Dendrological Dates, Wolfgang Neubauer, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, University of Vienna:

Tonight we’re going party like it’s 1985! The Archaeology of Festivals in Geophysical Data

3:15

Dr Edel Bhreathnach, Discovery Programme:

Medieval Gatherings

3:35

Questions

3:45

Tea/Coffee and Poster Session

 

Session 4:

4:25

Dr Stefan Bergh, Dept of Archaeology, NUI, Galway:

Meeting at the edge – Turlough Hill as a place of prehistoric assembly

4:45

Michael MacDonagh, NRA:

Under the same night sky – the architecture and meaning of Bronze Age stone circles in mid-Ulster

5:05

Patrick Gleeson MA, UCC:

Gathering the Nations: Kingdoms, Communities and Civil Society in Early Medieval Ireland

5:25

Questions

5:35

Close of Day

Sunday 27th October

Session 5:

9:30

Dr Una MacConville, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, UK:

Gatherings on the ‘Far side banks of Jordan’

9:50

Dr Louise Nugent, Independent Scholar:

Gatherings of faith: Pilgrimage in medieval Ireland

10:10

Pádraig Meehan, Independent Scholar:

'Cargo Cults' in the Pacific; Irish Neolithic parallels?

10:30

Dr Candace Weddle, Assistant Professor of Art History Anderson University South Carolina USA:

Blood, Fire and Feasting: The Sensory Experience of Greco-Roman Sacrifice

10:50

Questions

11:00

Tea/Coffee

Session 6:

11:20

Keynote Speaker:

Prof Mike Parker-Pearson, Institute of Archaeology, University College London:

Gatherings at Durrington Walls and Stonehenge

12:00

Dr Richard Madgwick, Cardiff University:

A Passion for Pork: Feasting in southern Britain from the Neolithic to the Iron Age

12:20

Dr Julia E. M. Cussans, Archaeological Solutions Ltd, Stephen J. Dockrill, University of Bradford, Ian Armit, University of Bradford, Julie M. Bond, University of Bradford, Jo T. McKenzie, University of Bradford:

 ‘You’re invited to a party, don’t turn up legless’: case studies in feasting and community gatherings in Iron Age Scotland.

12:40

Questions

12:50

Closing address

1:00

Poster prize presentation

1:05

Close of Conference followed by unofficial field trip