Highlights 10 11 A database containing over 8000 radiocarbon dates of human activity in Ireland has 12 been assembled 13 The data have been contextualised for the period 400 to 1200 CE (1600 to 800 yrs 14 BP), revealing a pronounced oscillation between intensifying and declining activity 15 throughout the landscape 16 We suggest a preliminary long-term population model for Ireland via comparison 17 with later and earlier trends and demographic events 18 We review recent genetic evidence of population dynamics in Ireland, and posit 19 haplotype admixture events took place in the context of population decline 20 These results mirror recent palaeoisotope studies of intensification 21 22 23 Abstract 24Using archaeological data, this paper investigates past population trends in Ireland as a 25 response to recent genomic studies that have identified admixture signals in the genomes of 26 Irish people caused by historically-recorded migration events. Among these was Norse 27 settlement in the 9 th -10 th centuries CE, which has a greater than expected signal in the 28 contemporary population of the island. Here, we contextualise these discoveries using a large 29 database of recently discovered archaeological sites with radiocarbon dates that we have 30 analysed using Kernel Density Estimation techniques. We argue that the Viking migrations 31 occurred following a 300-year period of population decrease in Ireland. This new, data-driven 32 synthesis of the archaeological record contrasts with previous accounts of early medieval 33 Ireland as a period of ever-growing expansion and progression. However, this new 34 interpretation is also aligned to evidence for economic and environmental change, including 35 recent discoveries concerning the soil nitrogen cycle and agricultural intensification. We 36 compare historical evidence for Viking migrations to later episodes of migration between 37 Britain and Ireland, where more details are known about the size of the incoming groups, 38 ultimately wishing to confront the opinion that past population sizes cannot be fathomed for 39 cultures without documentary records. Through comparison with historic analyses and census 40 records, we make broad estimates of absolute population size in Ireland since prehistoric times, 41 including during these demographic events, and argue that much value is added to genomic 42 evidence for migration when these points in time are contextualized in terms of evolving 43 population trends. 44 45 Keywords 46 Population size, demographics, genomics, archaeology, early medieval, Ireland 47 48 Human population dynamics is an important window into the mechanisms underpinning 50 societies, informing us about yet more fundamental processes including environmental 51 pressure, evolution, epidemiology and the availability of resources. Human population size in 52 particular has had a major influence on ecosystem function today and at least since the Mid-53 Holocene (e.g. Ruddiman, 2003). Until recently, the long-term history of human popu...
This paper discusses how the production rate of historical and archaeological data might contain unique information about past societies. The case study is the frequency of entries in the Annals of Ulster, a primary early medieval source from Ireland, which was compared to the frequency of archaeological material from early medieval Ireland. The two datasets were found to contain similar trends, namely a rapid increase in activity in the 7 th Century, followed by a decline in the Early 9 th Century, low levels of activity in the 10 th Century, until recovery in the Late 10 th / Early 11 th Centuries. This overall pattern of activity had not been noticed before. Turning to the archaeological record of Britain, although there are certain similarities between Ireland and Scotland especially in the early part of the period, we find that the 9th and 10th centuries there were a stable period, and thus contrast with Ireland. We argue that environmental pressures are unlikely to be driving the signal, and instead various socio-cultural factors in the past coalesced in Ireland, leading to circumstances powerful enough to attenuate the enduring evidence for human activity, but expressing themselves silently, perhaps even in a way that was not immediately obvious to those witnessing them in the past. The simplest explanation, we contend, is that population levels fell throughout the period. This finding offers insight into the relationship between long-term change and the primary production of history, and supports the idea that the quantity of certain historical data can contain information about past realities.
Seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England is characterised by great social and religious change.The arrival of missionaries from Rome in AD 597 initiated the gradual process of conversion to Christianity. There is growing evidence for increasing hierarchy and social stratification in the archaeological record at this time, including prominent kingly burials. This paper investigates whether diet was influenced by social stratification and to a lesser extent religion in two seventh-century cemetery populations: Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, and Polhill, Kent.Analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from 116 human individuals was undertaken.Factors considered included age, sex, wealth and other notable grave features. Results showed that the diets of both populations were largely unaffected by these wider social processes, with negligible differences between social groups. The results were placed in the context of wider Anglo-Saxon dietary studies and highlight that Anglo-Saxon populations consistently display overwhelmingly similar ranges of carbon and nitrogen isotopes.
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