The Irish Iron Age - Beyond Celts and Romans

虽然爱尔兰在学术上和公众中都被普遍认为是典型的“凯尔特”国家，但考古记录实际上从未提供过明确的证据。直到最近，这一时期的文化身份问题（c。公元前800年至公元400年）无法令人满意地解决，因为在该国大部分地区和这一时期，没有任何人类活动的证据。虽然像塔拉或纳万这样的标志性皇家遗址和一些欧洲凯尔特风格的金属制品的最好的例子表明了一个人口稠密和复杂的社会的存在，但没有发现这些人日常生活的证据。此外，几乎没有任何证据表明在公元前800 - 400年之间有任何人类活动，这使得关于文化和种族身份的辩论无法取得进展。关于这些问题的想法要么是由等级制的大陆凯尔特文化的概念形成的，要么是通过对非常有问题的早期爱尔兰中世纪书面记录的过度字面解读，这些记录通常被认为包含史前社会结构的回声。关于罗马或罗马-不列颠的材料，也引发了一场类似的辩论，但反响截然不同。这就像“凯尔特人”的发现一样，被认为是入侵的证据，或者是对该国的种族或政治结构影响不大的其他形式的接触的结果。具有讽刺意味的是，虽然“凯尔特人”的材料在公众中被接受为该国种族“凯尔特化”的证据，但罗马-英国的对应物被拒绝为暗示任何此类过程。与学术界关于这些问题的争论脱节，凯尔特国家从未受到罗马世界的任何重大影响的想法深深植根于爱尔兰的公众意识中，在其他现代“凯尔特”国家，如苏格兰，威尔士或布列塔尼也是如此。在“凯尔特之虎”的建筑繁荣时期，挖掘的数量和规模都有了巨大的增加，科学测年技术的大规模应用终于为铁器时代的生命和生活提供了以前缺失的证据。这些数据在申请人直接参与的前两个项目中进行了整理和审查。在申请人指导并由爱尔兰遗产理事会（2008年）资助的试点项目中，对初始数据进行了整理和审查。随后，“流动性、气候和文化：重塑爱尔兰铁器时代”项目由伊恩·阿米特教授（当前提案的导师）指导的英国科学院研究发展奖（巴尔达）资助。本申请人是巴尔达项目的博士后研究员，是所有成果的共同作者。这些项目共同编制了来自约700个地点的2000多个放射性碳测年数据，改变了我们了解铁器时代爱尔兰的潜力。然而，到目前为止，新的数据集只在气候、人口和大尺度周期变化问题上进行了定量研究。拟议的研究将提供一个定性的，解释性的研究期间，将深入探讨生活方式，经济和社会结构的铁器时代的人的爱尔兰，并解决在这个形成时期的文化认同问题在爱尔兰史前结束。文化认同和文化变迁的讨论一直是铁器时代研究的核心。在欧洲大部分地区放弃凯尔特范式之后，这些主题最近再次成为国际学术辩论的焦点。来自爱尔兰的新记录将使我们能够以全新的方式解决这些问题，并为这一时期文化变革的新模式的发展做出贡献，例如“凯尔特”拉坦风格的材料以及来自“凯尔特”和罗马世界边缘的爱尔兰的罗马材料。

Although Ireland is commonly perceived both academically as well as by the public as the archetypical 'Celtic' country, the archaeological record has actually never provided unambiguous evidence for this. Until recently, questions of cultural identity in this period (c. 800BC-AD400) could not be addressed satisfactorily as evidence for any human activity was effectively absent for large parts of the country and the period. While the iconic Royal sites such as Tara or Navan and some of the finest examples of European Celtic style metalwork suggested the presence of a populous and sophisticated society, no evidence for the everyday lives of these people had been found. In addition, a lack of virtually any evidence for any human activity between c.800-400BC made it impossible to progress the debate about cultural and ethnic identities. Ideas about these issues were shaped either by concepts of a hierarchical Continental Celtic culture, or by over-literal readings of the highly problematic early Irish medieval written records often thought to contain echoes of prehistoric social structures. A similar debate with strikingly different resonance has been led about the Roman or Romano-British material. This has, like the 'Celtic' finds, been discussed as either evidence for an invasion or the results of some other form of contact with little impact on the ethnic or political structure of the country. Ironically, while the 'Celtic' material is in the public accepted as evidence for an ethnic 'Celticisation' of the country, the Romano-British equivalent is rejected as implying any such process. Disjointed from the academic debate about these issues, the idea of a Celtic country that was never subjected to any significant influence from the Roman world is deeply embedded in Irish public consciousness, and similarly so in other modern 'Celtic' countries such as Scotland, Wales or Brittany. An enormous increase in the number and scale of excavations during the building boom years of the 'Celtic Tiger' and the large-scale application of scientific dating techniques have now finally produced the previously missing evidence for life and living in the Iron Age. This data has been collated and examined in two previous projects in which the applicant has been directly involved. Initial data was collated and reviewed in a Pilot Project directed by the applicant and funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland (2008). Subsequently the project 'Mobility, Climate and Culture: Re-modelling the Irish Iron Age' was funded through a British Academy Research Development Award (BARDA) directed by Professor Ian Armit (mentor for the current proposal). The present applicant was the post-doctoral fellow on the BARDA project and is co-author of all outputs. Together these projects have compiled more than 2000 radiocarbon dates from some 700 sites, transforming our potential for understanding of Iron Age Ireland. So far, however, the new dataset has been examined only quantitatively, in relation to issues of climate, demography and broad-scale period changes. The proposed study will provide a qualitative, interpretative study of the period that will explore in depth the life styles, economic and social structures of the Iron Age people of Ireland and tackle the issue of cultural identity during this formative period at the end of Irish prehistory. The discussion of cultural identity and change has always been central to the study of the Iron Age. After the abandonment of the Celtic paradigm in wide parts of Europe, these themes have recently moved into the focus of international academic debate once more. The newly assembled record from Ireland will allow us to address these problematic issues in a completely new manner and to contribute to the development of new models for cultural change in this period as exemplified in the 'Celtic' La Tène style material as well as the Roman material from Ireland at the periphery of both the 'Celtic' and the Roman worlds.