This thesis investigates the archaeological remnants of an early 14th century settlement at Ballintober, Roscommon County, Ireland. An innovative methodology combining ground-penetrating radar, magnetic gradiometry, and archaeological excavations is utilized to reconstruct the medieval built environment, which was comprised of a masonry castle, nucleated settlement and wider arable agricultural landscape. By integrating the archaeological and historical records, I pose hypotheses related to the differential statuses of people at the settlement, their domestic and agricultural practices, and a timeline of their occupation and abandonment of the site. The Ballintober settlement offers a unique case study to investigate the colonial dynamics of the Irish later medieval period. My findings suggest that the built environment of this site was constructed and inhabited by its residents as an overt claim to English identity and embodied the complicated and nuanced intersection of power and ethnicity within the Irish colonial period.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis investigates the archaeological remnants of an early 14th century settlement at Ballintober, Roscommon County, Ireland. An innovative methodology combining ground-penetrating radar, magnetic gradiometry, and archaeological excavations is utilized to reconstruct the medieval built environment, which was comprised of a masonry castle, nucleated settlement and wider arable agricultural landscape. By integrating the archaeological and historical records, I pose hypotheses related to the differential statuses of people at the settlement, their domestic and agricultural practices, and a timeline of their occupation and abandonment of the site. The Ballintober settlement offers a unique case study to investigate the colonial dynamics of the Irish later medieval period. My findings suggest that the built environment of this site was constructed and inhabited by its residents as an overt claim to English identity and embodied the complicated and nuanced intersection of power and ethnicity within the Irish colonial period.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bair, Andrew Ryan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lawrence B. Conyers, Ph.D.","Bonnie Clark, Ph.D.","Scott Howard, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:02:45Z","subjects":["Ethnicity","Geophysics","Ground-penetrating radar","Landscape","Magnetometry","Medieval Ireland","Anthropology","European History","History"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"],"dc:subject":["Ethnicity","Geophysics","Ground-penetrating radar","Landscape","Magnetometry","Medieval Ireland","Anthropology","European History","History"],"dc:title":["The Medieval Borderland: Geophysical Analysis of a Later Medieval Deserted Settlement and Cultural Landscape from Western Ireland"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:02:45Z"}