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Background to
Conference
A Committee comprising representatives from
Archaeological and Historical Societies, Community
Development Groups and interested individuals in Mayo have
come together to promote this conference to mark the
Millennium year. The Conference will present the latest
research across a wide spectrum of landscape, archaeological
and historical topics. The aim of the committee is that the
conference will reach out to the widest audience in Mayo and
beyond.
Early Christian Crosses
on Cahir Island, County Mayo
© Micheál
Murphy
Developments that influenced the
organisation and programme of the Conference
- Mayo has undergone, and continues to undergo, rapid
change in the rural and urban environment.
- There is a continuing need to raise public awareness
of Mayo's heritage.
- Within archaeology, there has been a move away from
discrete monument and artefact-based studies to
multi-disciplinary, landscape-based approaches using a
holistic approach to study human settlement.
- There has been an increase in archaeological
investigations arising from private and public
developments in Mayo.
- There has been an increase in community based
research through FÁS-funded community employment
and community response schemes have compiled local
heritage information.
- A number of integrated academic research projects
have been carried out in Mayo (e.g. New Survey of Clare
Island, Mayo Abbey)
- The development of Turlough Park House by the
National Museum of Ireland for the exhibition of The
National Folklife Collection.
- The recent decline in farm incomes has prompted
support agencies to propose alternative enterprises such
as heritage tourism.
- Local community groups and networks are researching
and presenting heritage information as part of tourism
initiatives.
- Community halls and resource buildings are
incorporating Heritage Rooms or small museums into their
designs.
- The World Wide Web has placed the researching and
publishing heritage information within the reach of rural
communities.
Conference objectives
- To provide a forum for the presentation and
discussion of Mayo's heritage being researched at State,
academic, and local level.
- To raise public awareness of Mayo's rich natural and
cultural heritage.
- To encourage and support local community groups to
research and preserve their local heritage.
- To bring unpublished studies into the public
domain.
- To hold an exhibition of community-based heritage
studies.
- To run a number of fieldtrips to illustrate the
landscape, archaeology and history of Mayo.
- To publish extended abstracts of the Conference
proceedings.
This is the first time individuals, Archaeological and
Historical Societies and community groups in Mayo have come
together to jointly organise a conference. This initiative
is the start of a collaborative process, which should lead
to other co-ordinated initiatives in researching and
presenting Mayo's rich heritage to a local, national and
international audience.
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