Network Member Profiles
Patrick McCafferty, Queen's University, Belfast.
Biography
Patrick McCafferty obtained a BE in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin in 1989. Working as a chemical engineer, he was interested in the environmental impact of humans. In 2003, he obtained an MA in archaeology in Queens University Belfast. He is interested in the impact of environmental factors on civilisation. He is currently completing a PhD examining the possibility that mythical narratives contain a record of comets and meteors.
Contact
pmccafferty03@qub.ac.uk
Research Interests
Mythology - Geomythology - Archaeology - Climate - Catastrophe - Neocatastrophism - Comets - Meteors - Tunguska - Sea-level - Earthquake - Tsunami - Impact Craters - Plague - Panspermia.
Collaborative Interests
Geomythology - Comets and their influence on mythology - Sea-level history and its impact on archaeology and mythology - The effects of climate and disease on human civilisation.
Themes
Air, Water, Fire, Earth.
Selected Publications
McCafferty, P. (2008) Bloody rain again! Red rain and meteors in history and myth, International Journal of Astrobiology, doi:10.1017/S1473550407003904 f 2008, 1-7
McCafferty, P. (2007) Cult in cometary context, In: Barrowclough, D. A. and Malone, C. (eds.), Cult in Context: Reconsidering Ritual in Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 229-233.
McCafferty, P. and Baillie, M. (2005) The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology. Stroud: Tempus.