Death as a way of life

Burial practices reveal a great deal about the way a people live. The archaeological record left by the ancient peoples who once inhabited Ireland certainly testifies to their superb eye for beautiful, often dramatic locations but also their subtle, indeed enigmatic, aptitude for engineering. The monuments are as sophisticated as they are often simple. Beyond the art and the science lies a powerful statement: their respect for their dead. Death for them appears to have been acknowledged as an integral part of life. The outstanding quarterly magazine, Archaeology Ireland, explores this fascinating subject next weekend with a diverse and inventive one-day conference, "Answers From the Grave".

Hallowe'en and winter's darkness may have played a small part in steering Prof Gabriel Cooney of UCD, and the magazine's first editor, towards the topic in this month of souls. But burial procedures are central to an understanding of life and attitudes and most particularly, the complex relationship between the living, the dead and death itself. Among the speakers at this, the fourth Archaeology Ireland conference, to be held this year at the Industry Centre, UCD, is David Fanagan of Fanagan's Funeral Directors in Dublin. He is not an archaeologist, but as Prof Cooney points out, with the apparent decline of organised religion, undertakers are playing an increasingly large role in advising the bereaved. "Modern Funerary Practice in Ireland: A Worm's Eye View" is a wonderful title. Although - as cremations become more common - Irish worms may be seeing a lot less these days.

Casting aside your fears for starving worms will be Patricia Lysaght of the Department of Irish Folklore at UCD with a paper looking at the role of food in Ireland's folklore of death. Some of the best meals eaten by many have been at old-style wakes. There is also, of course, the ancient ritual of sending the dead on their way with a stock of food as well as their favoured possession.

Interestingly, the conference directors have chosen to begin the programme at 9.30 a.m. rather than the more obvious midnight. In the raw light of early morning, Mike Parker Pearson, author of The Archaeology of Death and Burial, tackles "Preparing for the Afterlife, the Human Experience of Death". In his book, he offers an overview of the varied interpretations of human remains. He also examines attitudes to death held by various societies past and present as well as the archaeological view. Dead bodies can cause more trouble than live ones and Parker Pearson deals with the controversial issue of the excavation of mass graves in his book. He may well be asked on Saturday to discuss the debate on whether or not human remains kept in museums should be reburied.

Laureen Buckley is speaking about forensic archaeology, while Nyree Finlay from UCC is addressing the most distressing aspect of death - that of the death of children which, in the days of high infant mortality, was an everyday occurrence.

Concentrating on a specific area - Ballymacaward in Co Donegal - Elizabeth O'Brien traces the history of an ancestral burial ground from prehistory to the early medieval period. Alison Sheridan is from the National Museum of Scotland; her "Heaven and Hell and Other Worlds" sounds like my kind of lecture. Raymond Gillespie, one of the editors of the Royal Irish Academy's Irish Historic Towns Atlas, is an authority on medieval death practices. His paper, which may be more secular than its title "Do This in Memory of Me" suggests, examines the cohesive role of the deathbed as a social and family statement in late medieval and early modern Ireland. Though not quite an archaeology book, Susan Leigh Fry's Burial in Medieval Ireland 900-1500 (Four Courts Press, 1999) could prove useful background reading prior to Saturday's proceedings.

Just as the magazine is written by experts and read by both archaeology professionals and the interested general reader, Archaeology Ireland's conferences are for everyone and this year's will appeal to a wide audience. Sponsored by Duchas, the conference next Saturday begins with an opening address at 9.15 a.m. and runs until 5.30 p.m.

Further information from Archaeology Ire- land, tel: 01-2862649