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Dr. David McGuinness
Independent Archaeological Researcher

Archaeological Approaches to the Pagan-Christian Transition in Ireland

In recent centuries, a proportion of what passes for Christianity in Irish popular religion is indicative or at least suggestive of a pagan origin, whether sunwise or deiseal movement around holy wells and other pilgrimage stations; respect for sacred trees, stones and other natural features; or the practice of pilgrimage on or close to Lughnasa and other dates from other pre-Christian calendar. Collectively these survivals suggest that a significant body of non-Christian belief and custom was accommodated by the early Irish church—something that is historically documented for the early church in Europe as a whole, and which also emerges from the Irish Saints’ Lives. In attempting to demonstrate this in Ireland, our principal body of evidence comes from a broad range of archaeological remains, which can be interpreted on their own or in conjunction with literary sources and particularly folklore, the latter providing testable hypotheses. Certain aspects of recent pilgrimage ritual (sites visited, devotions performed) can thus be compared with or tested against the archaeological record, indicating both great antiquity for Irish pilgrimage and its pivotal role in the conversion to Christianity, something that is also strongly supported by global anthropological studies.

David McGuinness was awarded his MA (1997) and PhD (2007) degrees from the School of Archaeology, UCD, with theses on the history of megalithic tomb studies and on rock-basins or bullaun stones respectively. Having tutored in archaeology in UCD (1998-2001), he went on to lecture in Irish archaeology in the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool (2001-2006). From 2007 he worked with the late Dr Michael Herity as Assistant Editor in the publication of John O’Donovan’s famous Ordnance Survey Letters, and since 2012 he has been Director of the Prehistoric Burial Mounds of County Westmeath Project, funded by the County Council’s Heritage Forum and undertaken in association with Westmeath Archaeological & Historical Society. He has published articles on megalithic tombs, bullaun stones and the history of Irish archaeology.
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