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THE AIMS OF THE IRISH POST-MEDIEVAL

ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP

The Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group was established in Belfast in June 1999, in order to advance the following three objectives:

(1) To undertake initiatives that will help raise the profile of post-medieval archaeology within Ireland.

(2)  To foster greater contacts between those individuals engaged in researching the archaeology, history and culture of post- 1550 Ireland.

(3)  To lobby for increased academic attention to be paid to the post-medieval period within Irish universities.

As an initial step towards advancing these objectives, The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Ireland, 1550-1850 conference was held in February 2001 in Queens University, Belfast.  This conference addressed a wide range of topics relevant to the archaeology of post- 1550 Ireland, providing a valuable overview of the current state of the discipline and encouraging dialogue amongst those interested in the legacy of Ireland's recent past.  Thirty- two presentations spanned topics ranging from the archaeology of the plantation period and the archaeology of Ireland's major towns and cities; to focused discussions of domestic and ecclesiastical architecture, mortuary architecture, landscape, industry, and maritime heritage; to papers which dealt specifically with the artefacts commonly encountered on post-medieval Irish archaeological sites. The conference began with a keynote address tracing the growth of the field in Ireland, and concluded with an open discussion of the future of the archaeological study of Ireland's recent past.

Establishment of the Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group

A primary achievement of the 2001 conference was the formal establishment of an organisation specifically dedicated to the study of Ireland's post-medieval archaeology, representing all those working in related fields (IPMAG).  The meeting also initiated a yearly conference and intends that an archaeological  journal will also be set up at some stage in the near future.

Publication of Conference Proceedings

One of the key issues concerning post-medieval archaeology in Ireland that has been identified by IPMAG, is the lack of any integrated text that provides an overview of the archaeology of the period. As a first step to addressing this issue, IPMAG published the Conference Proceedings from the 2001 conference in 2007.