Archaeology of Ireland in the Age of Improvement

An Archaeology of Ireland in the Age of Improvement offers the first dedicated archaeological examination of Improvement in Ireland. It explores the rhetoric and practice of ‘improving’ the country through its landscape, built heritage, artefacts and changing routines; and asks whether Irish Improvement can be considered distinctive.

The volume brings together archaeologists with substantial experience in Irish post-medieval studies to evaluate the place of Improvement within archaeological discourses of historical capitalism and colonialism. It views the Improvement ethic as a manifestation of European enlightenment thinking that had far-reaching material and societal implications and explores, in Ireland’s turbulent and contested circumstances, how it was adopted as a justification for attempts to effect far-reaching social, cultural and moral transformations. The themes under examination include Gaelic responses to Improvement, changes to urban and rural settings, developing industries and the social worlds of artefacts and funerary practices. Across seven chapters the book provides a synthesis of emerging work on this crucial aspect of post-medieval Ireland.

The book will interest historical archaeologists, researchers and students. It will also appeal to historical geographers and the broader historical studies community.

Wes Forsythe is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Ulster University. His interests are in post-medieval economies among coastal communities in Atlantic Europe and East Africa, and contemporary maritime culture and the environment.

Ian Kuijt is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.

Richard Clutterbuck is the Head of Project Archaeology with Archaeological Management Solutions Ltd (AMS). Richard is a landscape archaeologist specialising in the study of medieval and post-medieval Ireland. His doctoral research (funded by the Irish Research Council) at the University of Galway, was entitled 'Rural Landscapes of Improvement in Ireland, 1650-1850: An Archaeological Landscape Study' in 2015. (ORCID: 0009-0009-4013-7435)