Visiting Instructor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale is directing Hamilton's involvement in The Cultural Landscapes of the Irish Coast (CLIC), an interdisciplinary collaborative research and teaching project on the island of InisAirc in County Galway, Ireland. Collaborators on the project include students and faculty from Hamilton, the University of Notre Dame, Trinity College and University College Dublin. Broadly defined, the purpose of the project is to understand rural life-ways during prehistoric and historic times in west-central Ireland's County Galway.
While the project has broad interests, the main focus is on understanding rural life before, during and after Ireland's Potato Famine, an issue rarely considered in an archaeological context. Specifically, the reserachers are examining the social and behavioral reactions to changing use of space, agriculture practices and the abandonment of villages as a result of socioeconomic relations between food supply and political influence.
During the three-week June 2008 field season, the CLIC team focused on recording the archaeology on the island of InisAirc. The island is remote and historical accounts illustrate that inhabitants were often unable to leave the island for two to three months each year due to high seas and wind. Of particular interest is a large village on the east end of the island first occupied in the early 1800s. The village has more than 50 houses, a formal cemetery, a Catholic Church, a school, and numerous garden plots and livestock areas. Because of the difficulty in getting on and off of the island, the CLIC team lived on InisAirc in tents during their research period.
In June 2009, the CLIC project will expand upon the research foundation from the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Several Hamilton College students will have the opportunity to participate in documenting village life and the early Christian period, including an expanded boat survey of other remote Irish islands. For additional information regarding the 2009 CLIC project contact Nathan Goodale at ngoodale@hamilton.edu.
While the project has broad interests, the main focus is on understanding rural life before, during and after Ireland's Potato Famine, an issue rarely considered in an archaeological context. Specifically, the reserachers are examining the social and behavioral reactions to changing use of space, agriculture practices and the abandonment of villages as a result of socioeconomic relations between food supply and political influence.
During the three-week June 2008 field season, the CLIC team focused on recording the archaeology on the island of InisAirc. The island is remote and historical accounts illustrate that inhabitants were often unable to leave the island for two to three months each year due to high seas and wind. Of particular interest is a large village on the east end of the island first occupied in the early 1800s. The village has more than 50 houses, a formal cemetery, a Catholic Church, a school, and numerous garden plots and livestock areas. Because of the difficulty in getting on and off of the island, the CLIC team lived on InisAirc in tents during their research period.
In June 2009, the CLIC project will expand upon the research foundation from the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Several Hamilton College students will have the opportunity to participate in documenting village life and the early Christian period, including an expanded boat survey of other remote Irish islands. For additional information regarding the 2009 CLIC project contact Nathan Goodale at ngoodale@hamilton.edu.
