Hencken expressed a preference for excavating in Sligo because it was less costly than Clare where workmen were paid 4/- a day before the change from the gold standard. This linked a currency’s value to that of gold and a country on the gold standard could not increase the amount of money in circulation without also increasing its gold reserves. America abandoned the gold standard in 1933. Hencken came to the conclusion that ‘it cannot be said that Clare is a very hopeful area for excavating, though there are a few sites worth trying’.124 He also noted that ‘Much excavation could be done in Sligo for comparatively little money, since workmen could be hired for 3/- or 3/6 a day before the abandonment of the gold standard and probably no question of compensation would arise’.125 When Hencken and Movius visited the Bronze Age burial site at Ballyglass, County Mayo, to organise the excavations, they found to their dismay that the locals demanded exorbitant wages of a pound a day and landowners expected expensive compensation. They were unwilling to pay wages of this amount as it would set a precedent for future excavations. Mahr travelled to the area on their behalf and managed to renegotiate the terms so that workmen accepted ten shillings a day. He was unable to reduce the level of compensation due to ‘superstitious fears’. Compensation of £5 was expected for a small burial compared with a similar amount paid to a farmer for a large crannóg in the Midlands.126 The excavation only took one day. A cremated burial was discovered and artefacts included a rare type of bronze axe and several flint implements.127
Hencken was interested in historic sites, reflecting his multidisciplinary training by Hector Munro Chadwick, the English philologist and historian who founded the ‘Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos Section B’, at the University of Cambridge. Hencken believed that the numerous forts in County Clare ‘probably began with the Celtic invasion of the Iron Age’.128 He was interested in one called Cahermacnaughten because it was the seat of the O’Davorens. This stone ring fort was inhabited by the O’Davoren family and their law school until the end of the seventeenth century. However, he thought that it was unlikely that many artefacts would be discovered from the stone forts as there was so little soil above the native limestone. Also, the problem of shifting a large amount of stones from the interior of these forts before excavation could begin would be costly. There were some forts suitable for excavation, including the very large Cahermoghan fort with its triple fortification. This was of interest because the Bronze Age ‘great Clare gold hoard’ had been found nearby at Mooghaun in 1854. Hencken considered that ‘the place looks more promising than any other in the county’.129 Among other historical sites in County Clare which aroused Hencken’s curiosity was Magh Adhair, a flat-topped mound surrounded by a fosse, and the inauguration place of the Kings of Thomond; and the monastic site of Inis Cealtra. In 1931, the Harvard Mission archaeologists were of the opinion that the Celts built the crannógs and were interested in tracing evidence for Celtic continuity in the archaeological record. In his report, Hencken wrote that ‘both the forts and the crannógs were occupied in Early Christian times, and indeed, some of the oldest monasteries were closely patterned after the former. It was at this time that Ireland produced its celebrated Celtic Art which probably represents one of the highest cultural levels ever attained by the early peoples of western Europe’.130
The crannógs selected by Mahr and Hencken for excavation proved to have very rich artefactual assemblages. Approximately two thirds of the work programme of the five Harvard Missions was devoted to carrying out excavations on three crannóg sites – Ballinderry 1 in County Westmeath, Ballinderry 2 in County Offaly and Lagore in County Meath.131
De Valera and the Harvard Mission
County Clare was chosen as a representative county for the detailed anthropological survey. No doubt this decision pleased Éamon de Valera who represented East Clare in the Dáil. Warner wrote to de Valera on 25 July 1932 explaining the nature of the proposed project and promising that it would be financed by the Harvard School of Business Administration:
The proposed research in County Clare by Harvard University will study the socio-economic life of the people and will excavate and survey several archaeological sites. We will be particularly concerned with the study of market areas, the relation of farm holding to market areas and family life, the interplay of social relations between town and county, and in general the total economic structure and life of the town of Ennis and the county.132
Warner believed that they could add to the fund of economic knowledge that they were obtaining in America by a similar research in Ireland, so that the results of the work ‘will be of value to the Irish political economist, industrialist, and business man and will not be of mere academic interest’. He stated that ‘our whole approach will be entirely objective and we will feel that we have failed if any prejudice or bias comes into our results in any way whatever’.133 De Valera sent a positive reply to this letter stating that, as he understood it, ‘it will be a scientific study of the socio-economic life of the Irish people and a research into the archaeological sites of the ancient Irish and in no way will be political but only interested in obtaining the objective truth through careful collection of the facts’.134
Warner had a meeting with de Valera whom he described as ‘a very fine man who is intelligent and grasped what I was talking about immediately’. Warner had also to persuade Bishop Fogarty of Killaloe to give him permission to carry out the survey work in Clare. Bishop Fogarty and de Valera were not on good personal terms. Fogarty disapproved of de Valera’s politics and had referred to him as a ‘Dictator’.135 The Harvard team was sensitive to the political and cultural conditions in Ireland during their research and were therefore anxious to obtain permission and support from senior political and religious figures. Warner received his letter of introduction from de Valera and the Harvard Mission began its work shortly afterwards. Warner continued to be worried about the political situation in Ireland and wrote to Hooton on 26 July 1932 to express his fears: ‘The possibilities of civil war are ever present and it is generally understood that I.R.A. gunmen are quietly organising and importing arms and ammunition from America to start a revolution if de Valera’s policies fail, or if de Valera becomes more moderate’.136
One of the reasons Clare was chosen by the American anthropologists was because they considered it to be ‘in transition’ between a modern and traditional society.137 The ‘Harvard University Social and Economic Survey’ was led by Conrad Maynadier Arensberg and Solon Toothaker Kimball. Warner had supervised the PhD theses of both men. Arensberg, who was a graduate student in anthropology came to Ireland on a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and at UCD under George O’Brien, Professor of National Economics and Political Economy, and under Professor Eoin McNeill. He also acquired a knowledge of the Irish language.138 Arensberg made other useful contacts in the academic community in Ireland, including the folklorist Séamus Ó Duillearga. Arensberg and Kimball credited Ó Duillearga with ‘paving our way among the country folk’139 as it was he who had encouraged the locals in North Clare to cooperate and share their knowledge of traditional songs and stories with the Americans. Arensberg and Kimball studied the country people of North Clare and the inhabitants of Ennis, observing the way of life of the small farmer class and the townspeople, their relationships and their traditions. They used innovative ethnographic research methods for examining the way of life of ordinary people using an interdisciplinary approach. The results of this work were published in two books, The Irish Countryman and Family and Community in Ireland.140 Hooton expressed the view that ‘Ultimately all of this material will contribute to a single unified anthropological history and analyses of this gifted and virile nation’.141
3
‘IRELAND BELONGS TO THE WORLD’: CELTIC ORIGINS, ANTHROPOLOGY AND EUGENICS
We believe that the mysticism, artistry, and other peculiar gifts of the modern Irish can be understood only by fitting their prehistory into their modern civilization, and by establishing the continuity of their ancient culture in their life of today.1
– Earnest A. Hooton
Why should Harvard University concern itself with Ireland?
In 1937, R.A.S. Macalister