Abstract
The rich although very different literatures relating to two islands – Hirta (St Kilda) in north-west Scotland and the Great Blasket in western Ireland – are exploited in order to explore ideas about the cosmology of landscapes described as 'dangerous' because of the risks taken by men engaged in fowling, fishing and seal-hunting. In the case of Hirta, the archaeological record as mapped might encourage the creation of a structuralist model of the meaning of the landscape, but more holistic worldviews are sought here. In the context of a perspective developed by Rosalie Wax (1969) the attitudes of the Blasket islanders – which are better documented than their counterparts on Hirta – are explored in relation to magic, ritual and fate, and their responses to their landscapes/seascapes are investigated in the context of the dangers which they faced. The 'fertile chaos' of Blasket worldviews conveys several lessons for archaeologists seeking to develop narratives of the meanings of landscape, especially for prehistory.
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