PhD title:
The development of the coarse earthenware industry in Ulster c.1550-1900: a typological and sociological study of pots and potters
Research field:
My project addresses the entanglement of material culture, colonial encounters, and capitalist expansion in early modern Ulster. Taking a multi-scalar approach, the project starts from a thorough analysis of the archaeological evidence for alterations in the production and consumption of native Irish pottery through the period of transition from the late medieval Gaelic world to a world shaped by the forces of plantation and the emergence of mercantile capitalism. During this period, Ulster potters shifted from hand-built, unglazed coarse earthenwares and adopted the use of the wheel and lead glaze to produce forms seemingly ‘English’ in design and function. The cultural significance of this shift will be explored through the application of interpretive frameworks drawing from scholarship in comparative colonialism, itself strongly influenced by postcolonial understandings of material hybridity.
Funding body:
Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Programme (AHRC)
Email: ncarver01@qub.ac.uk
ARCHAEOLOGY & PALAEOECOLOGY • School of Natural & Built Environment 