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- Title
Bewitched by an Elf Dart: Fairy Archaeology, FolkMagic and TraditionalMedicine in Ireland.
- Authors
Dowd, Marion
- Abstract
In Ireland the supernatural sí (loosely translated as 'fairies') were strongly associated with thousands of archaeological monuments and natural places in the landscape, and many prehistoric artefacts were regarded as material culture of the sí. Such artefacts assumed an important role in popular religious practices, folk medicine and magic, most frequently to invoke cures for farm animals, but also to protect the homestead. Though little discussed in archaeological literature, the interpretation of prehistoric artefacts as potent objects fromthe supernatural world, and their ability actively to influence the well-being of livestock and the household, illustrates the rich and complex lives many archaeological artefacts assumed several thousand years after their initial manufacture, use and discard. The folk use of such artefacts as active agencies contrasts with the contemporaneous antiquarian collection and display of archaeological material as relics of ancient cultures.
- Subjects
IRELAND; TRADITIONAL medicine; MONUMENTS
- Publication
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2018, Vol 28, Issue 3, p451
- ISSN
0959-7743
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0959774318000124