ABSTRACT

Historical archaeology, or post-medieval archaeology as it is more commonly known in Ireland, has emerged as a vibrant subdiscipline in the last couple of decades. Aspects of early modern society and settlement are now taught in undergraduate courses and researched by graduates in all of Ireland’s archaeology departments. The establishment of the Irish PostMedieval Archaeology Group in 1999, drawing membership from the academic, state, and commercial sectors as well as from the general public, has continued to promote the growth of this vibrant subdiscipline. Archaeological research, with its emphasis on material remains, including buildings and their surroundings, can offer provocative and insightful views on the physical environment of that time. Indeed, twenty years ago, Rolf Loeber, a leading figure in the study of early modern settlement in Ireland, called for a multidisciplinary approach, a view very much informed by his own work on the compilation of documentary sources for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century settlements. 1