Ancient Ireland
• The Mesolithic Stone Age
• The Neolithic Stone Age
• The Bronze Age
• The Celts
MesolithicStone Age
7000 BC
?
4000 BC
Bronze Age
2000 BC
?
500 BC
Neolithic Stone Age
Iron AgeCelts
Ancient Ireland
Mesolithic Stone Age
• First people in Ireland• 8000 BC• Tools and weapons made of stone• Hunter gatherers• Ate berries, nuts, fish, wild pig, deer and
other animals• Mount Sandal, River Bann Northern Ireland
AxesSpears and HarpoonsScrapersBone Needles
Neolithic Stone Age
• Means ‘New Stone’ Age – they still made weapons and tools from stone
• 4000 BC: First farmers
Changes
Sharper polished stone tools
They introduced pottery, farming, ploughs, barley and wheat, farm animals like sheep, cattle and pigs
Built bigger stronger houses made of wattle and daub walls and thatched roofs
Megaliths
Neolithic farmers brought pottery to Ireland.
• They used stones to grind the wheat for bread
Look at the houses on page 21• Usually rectangular.• thatched roofs made of straw.• A hole in the roof was a chimney for fires, lit on a
stone in the middle of the floor.• They drove timber posts into the ground and held
them in place with rocks.• They made walls out of ‘wattle’ and ‘daub’. • Wattle was made by weaving twigs and branches
through sticks (like basket making)• Daub is a mixture of mud and straw which was
‘daubed’ on the wattle.• Wattle and daub made the houses warmer and less
drafty.
First Farmers: SitesBecause the ‘Neolithic FarmersA. Settled in one placeB. Had a reliable food supply they were able to form
communities and work together, for example:C. They were able to build bigger structures: megalithsD. Megaliths prove they believed in life after death
Sites where neolithic farmers lived1. Lough Gur, County Limerick, 2. The Ceide Fields, County Mayo,
Court Cairn, Creevykeel, Co SligoCourt Cairns consist of:1. A semi-circular ‘Court’ at
the front where bodies were cremated.
2. An entrance way made of two upright stones and a capstone.
3. A ‘Passage’ leading to the burial chamber
4. A Chamber where cremated remains were placed
5. A cairn, a mound of smaller stones placed over the structure.
Creevkeel, Co Sligo
Court Cairn
Poulnabrone Dolmen, the Burren, Co Clare
• Dolmens are stone age tombs
• Cremated remains, human bones, pottery and weapons have been found in Dolmens.
• Poulnabrone Dolmen on the Burren in Co Clare was used for 500 years to bury the dead.
Capstone
Portals
Passage Graves
• A long passage leads to a chamber deep inside
• The walls of the passage are made of large upright slabs
• The roof is corbelled and covered with an earth mound
• Examples are Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth
• Newgrange is a case study
Newgrange: Case Study
• 4500 years old: oldest building in Europe
• Long passage leads to a chamber.
• The roof is corbelled
• Stones are decorated with spirals
• The light box over the entrance is positioned so that sunlight lights the inner chamber on the shortest day of the year
• They knew a great deal about the sun.
• They were skilled builders
After Excavation
Neolithic Settlements
• Lough Gur, Co Limerick
• Circular houses with wattle and daub wall and thatched roofs
• Post holes
• Ceide Fields, Co Mayo
• Sewed wheat and barley
• Ground the grain with a rotary quern
• Kept cows, sheep and goats in stone walled fields
The Bronze Age
What’s new?• Bronze to make weapons and tools• New jewelry: torcs and lunalae• Fulacht fia• Individual graves: 1. Cist Graves2. Wedge Graves3. Standing Stones
How Bronze objects were made
• Rock containing copper was broken and smelted over a fire
• Smelted copper (from Killarney) and tin (from Cornwall, England) were mixes and poured into a mould
• Brone axes, arrowheads, spear heads, and the first swords
Bronze Age Jewelry was made by smiths: a new craft to Ireland
Lunala: thin and moon
shaped
Torc: gold twisted into
bracelets and necklaces
Fulacth Fia
• Fulacht fia was an ancient cooking place
• Dug near a river, so it would fill with water
• Lined with stone slabs• Rocks are heated in a fire
and put in the water to boil it
• Cooked meat wrapped in straw
Bronze Age Graves• 1. Cist Grave • Carnmore, Co Louth• Rectangular pit lined
with stone slabs• Person buried in
crouched position with grave goods such as food and weapons
• Wedge Tombs• Lisdoonvarna, Co
Clare• Shaped like a wedge
of cheese
• Standing Stones• Drombeg, Co Cork• Might have been a
type of calendar
Wedge Tomb
Mesolithic Stone Age
Neolithic Stone Age Bronze Age
8000 BC
Hunter Gatherers
Hut-like houses
Weapons and tools made of stone
Mount Sandal
4000 BC
First Farmers
Wattle and daub houses
Pottery, wheat and barley
Pigs, sheep and cattle
Megaliths
Dolmens (Poulnabrone)
Court Cairns(Creevkeel)
Passage Graves (Newgrange)
Ceide Fields
Lough Gur
2000 BC
Weapons and tools made of bronze
Torc & Lunala
Smelting and moulds
First smiths
First swords
Fulacht fia / rotary querns
Individual graves
Cist Graves (Carnmore, Co Louth)
Wedge Tombs (Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare)
Standing Stones (Drombeg, Co Cork)