An archaeology of remembering and forgetting: ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deaths on Irish mariners’ memorials



Mytum, HC ORCID: 0000-0002-0577-2064
(2017) An archaeology of remembering and forgetting: ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deaths on Irish mariners’ memorials. The Journal of Irish Archaeology, 25. pp. 105-122.

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Abstract

Archaeologists interpret the past based on patterns in the physical data recovered, but negative evidence may also be informative.This paper examines factors behind the uneven representation of mariners on historic memorials, revealing how consideration of the absent should also be part of any analysis.Many individuals in Ireland from the late eighteenth century onwards had their graves marked by inscribed memorials, acting both as grave-markers and as foci for memory and commemorative practices. Dying on land and being lost at sea created different issues regarding grieving and commemoration, and archaeology can examine how far this is materially represented in memorials. Following some wider consideration of mariners’ memorials, two Irish case-studies are considered: one is the Protestant graveyard of Donaghadee, Co. Down, and the other the commemoration of a maritime disaster at Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.This is followed by a consideration of why so few Irish Catholic mariners were explicitly commemorated on memorials. It is suggested that differing attitudes to remembering and forgetting ‘bad deaths’ may in part explain this silence.

Item Type: Article
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 07 Dec 2017 13:52
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 06:48
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3013699