SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENT IN GLENDALOUGH ... - Ian Cantwell

attempted to think like a historian and perceive like a geographer since history isultimatelyan intellectual discipline and geography is a perceptualdisciple, though theecological approach, as experimented with by Colinvaux:7, bas been an interpretativeinfluenceIt is the fusion ofthe two that creates the interdisciplinary framework. This fusion iscalled Historical Geography, Landscape Archaeology and Settlement History. Thedifferencesbetween them are primarily a question offocus though personal taste andthe culturalecologyofAcademia is also important.The disciplines used are history, landscape archaeology, settlement studies and pollenanalysis. There have been four approachesused in an attemptto develop a cultural andsettlement narrative within this particular environment.The first is based on a review of the published and unpublished literature in thesedisciplines.Standard bibliographies of published and manuscript sources wereconsulted. The aim was to provide the specific historic knowledge and generalgeographicalcontexts for the research.The second is the use ofa pollen diagramofG1endalough for the purpose ofprovidingan environmental context, a source for the human influence on the environment, and aguide to the agricultural history of the local population. A radiocarbon date wasobtained to finetune the chronology.The third is the cartographic element: by plotting distributions within a specifictopographical context it is possible to deduce settlement patterns with their changesand continuities.'Colinvaux P. The State ofNations. London, 1978 &. Why bigfierce animals are rare. London, 19759