The Archaeology of Darkness

by Marion Dowd (Editor), Robert Hensey (Editor)

Overview

Through time people have lived with darkness. Archaeology shows us that over the whole human journey people have sought out dark places, for burials, for votive deposition and sometimes for retreat or religious ritual away from the wider community. Thirteen papers explore Palaeolithic use of deep caves in Europe and the orientation of mortuary monuments in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. It examines how the senses are affected in caves and monuments that were used for ritual activities, from Bronze Age miners in Wales working in dangerous subterranean settings, to initiands in Italian caves, to a modern caver’s experience of spending time in the one of the world’s deepest caves in Russia. We see how darkness was and is viewed at northern latitudes where parts of the year are spent in eternal night, and in Easter Island where darkness provided communal refuge from the pervasive sun. We know that spending extended periods in darkness and silence can affect one physically, emotionally and spiritually. How did interactions between people and darkness affect individuals in the past and how were regarded by their communities? And how did this interaction transform places in the landscape? As the ever-increasing electrification of the planet steadily minimizes the amount of darkness in our lives, curiously, darkness is coming more into focus. This first collection of papers on the subject begins a conversation about the role of darkness in human experience through time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785701924
Publisher:	Oxbow Books
Publication date:	05/31/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Marion Dowd is a lecturer in prehistoric archaeology at the Institute of Technology, Sligo where she specialises in the Archaeology of Irish caves and how they have been used from the Mesolithic through to post-medieval times, whether for burial, excarnation, veneration, occupation, refuge or as hideaways. She has many research interests including Mesolithic Archaeology, Folklore and archaeology, archaeology of emotion, Funeral Practices, and Votive offerings.
Robert Hensey is a research archaeologist who specializes in the investigation of the Neolithic period with particular reference to Irish passage tombs. He has been involved in a number of field- and laboratory-based research projects including the Dating the Carrowmore Pins project, Finding Art at Carrowkeel, Human Population Dynamics at Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo and most recently the Millin Bay Art Project.

Table of Contents

List of figures
List of plates
List of tables
Acknowledgements
List of contributors

1. Past dark: a short introduction to the human relationship with darkness over time
Robert Hensey

2. Darkness visible. Shadows, art, and the ritual experience of caves in Upper Palaeolithic Europe
Paul B. Pettitt

3. Between symbol and senses: the role of darkness in ritual in prehistoric Italy
Ruth D. Whitehouse

4. Experiencing darkness and light in caves: later prehistoric examples from Seulo in central Sardinia
Robin Skeates

5. The dark side of the sky: the orientations of earlier prehistoric monuments in Ireland and Britain
Richard Bradley

6. In search of darkness: cave use in Late Bronze Age Ireland
Marion Dowd

7. Digging into the darkness: the experience of copper mining in the Great Orme, North Wales
Sian James

8. Between realms: entering the darkness of the hare paenga in ancient Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Sue Hamilton and Colin Richards

9. Dark places and supernatural light in early Ireland
John Carey

10. Enfolded by the long winter’s night
Charlotte Damm

11. ‘The outer darkness of madness’ – the Edwardian Winter Garden at Purdysburn public asylum for the insane
Gillian Allmond

12. Descent into darkness
Tim O’Connell

13. Coming in and out of the dark
Gabriel Cooney

Editorial Reviews

As a whole, the volume draws together an impressive compendium of ways with which humans, both prehistoric and more recent, engage with darkness… I’d thoroughly recommend the volume to both aspiring and established archaeologists with an interest in skyscapes, landscapes and art, particularly in how they relate to ritual, belief and experience.

, JSA 2.2(2016) - Fabio Silva

Overall, this is an excellent book. Irish prehistorians have produced some stunning research over the past few years (witness recent monographs by both of the editors, the work of Jessica Smyth on early Neolithic houses, and the run of excellent volumes produced by Irish commercial archaeology units). This book confirms the excellence of contemporary Irish archaeological research. Though the edited volume contains contributions from a wide variety of authors of different nationalities it is the lessons that Irish archaeology and early history can teach us that shines out from this book.

Andrew Meirion Jones

This fascinating collection… provides both contributors and readers with a challenging opportunity to think outside the box.

Journal of Irish Archaeology

This fascinating collection… provides both contributors and readers with a challenging opportunity to think outside the box

From the Publisher

This book is excellently written, both informative and interesting. It is illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings of artefacts and plans of the caves. It is an important addition to a library of Irish archaeology and truly deserving of the accolade of CA’s ‘Book of the Year’.

Spring Newsletter Ulster Archaeological Society