Bridget Brennan

The combination of cold, anaerobic, anti bacterial and acidic conditions in the peat bogs of North West Europe has produced a peculiar assortment of perfectly preserved human remains collectively known as the bog bodies. Human beings have been deposited in these wetland areas since the Mesolithic up until the post medieval period and there are multifarious theories regarding the possible reasons for their deposition. This study gives an overview of six theories one of which conjectures that the bog people were shamans. This final theory is tested, examined and evaluated in more detail in order to identify the possible influence of shamanic practice in bog body deposition.

The combination of cold, anaerobic, anti bacterial and acidic conditions in the peat bogs of North West Europe has produced a peculiar assortment of perfectly preserved human remains collectively known as the bog bodies. Human beings have been deposited in these wetland areas since the Mesolithic up until the post medieval period and there are multifarious theories regarding the possible reasons for their deposition. This study gives an overview of six theories one of which conjectures that the bog people were shamans. This final theory is tested, examined and evaluated in more detail in order to identify the possible influence of shamanic practice in bog body deposition.

Kilbarron Church is a small ruinous edifice in the townland of Kilbarron approximately four kilometres north west of Ballyshannon, County Donegal. It has been  variously dated from the 14th to the 16th century and it thought to have been built by the O'Clearys who were historians to the O'Donnells.  The church may have been built as a re-dedication to St Barron  as it is situated on the site where an earlier 6th century church may have stood.  It is also situated within an area that would have been a politically contested landscape as far back as the Neolithic, considering its strategic position as a fording point and a boundary between the west and north west of Ireland.

Anthropophagy is a controversial subject among anthropologists, ethnographers and archaeologists.  For many years it has been at the centre of heated debate with regard to the extent of its existence both archaeologically and ethnographically.  In more recent times biological, anthropological and archaeological evidence appears to be supporting the idea that anthropophagy was very much a part of the human experience throughout antiquity and remained so up until at least the middle of the 20th century.

The craft of woodturning dates back to Ancient Egypt and in particular Rameses III who is known to have invested heavily in specialist carpenters. It was brought to Europe from the Middle East by the ancient Greeks around the 7th century BC. Archaeological evidence for the craft in Ireland and Britain dates to the second century BC. The woodturners skills were an essential part of the material culture of both rural and urban communities up until the early 20th century. The importation of cheaper metal and earthenware goods from abroad lead to its decline in the 1930's.