Neolithic Era
Ireland's isolation continued until about 4300 BC, when newer people arrived. Known as Neolithic for their tools of stone, they did not rely solely on the hunt or wild vegetation harvest for sustenance. Rather they brought some knowledge of farming and domestic animals. Their numbers were likely small, but their impact on Ireland was significant.
Arriving by crude plank-built boats, they brought with them their tools, live-stock, seed-stocks and their families. They had come to stay. An interesting point is that most of the new-comers landed on the west side of Ireland away from Britain and Europe. The finding of both dug-out boat and boat plank (1.2 m X 5 m) remains at a date approximately coinciding with the beginning of farming on a considerable scale near the sites of the oldest stone structures of the same approximate age seems more than coincidence.
In addition to farming techniques, these new arrivals brought other knowledge to their new home-land. One significant craft was the ability to shape and move large stones and the motivation and dedication to do so. Part of this was obviously religious motivation to properly escort departed family and friends to the Otherworld.
Thus about 4200 BC, the Passage Grave of Carrowmere (near the mouth of the Boyne river) was built. From there development of the Passage Graves began its extension west to Co. Sligo. All told, some 300 passage graves have been identified, including the magnificent New Grange.
In addition to the band across the waist of Ireland, scattered passage graves are found predominantly in the north of the island with some scattered down along the river Liffey as well as a few isolated graves in the south. However, the passage grave seems to be the oldest use of fairly large stones. The location of stone structures and megaliths, including court cairns, wedge tombs, portal graves and court cairns indicate the possibility of two or more distinct groups at work.
Where the Island had remained seemingly isolated and relatively unchanged for over 2000 years, a major transformation suddenly took place. In a mere 300 years (a blink of an eye in historical terms), from circa 4300 BC to 4000 BC, farming cultivation commenced, domestic cattle and horses appeared, the first passage tombs were built, the first megalithic chamber was built, the first planked house appeared, the first wedge tombs were erected and the first stone circles were established.
A further interesting note, this all occurred in the western and north western half of the island - but strangely at three separate locations! A fact which causes dissension in Archeological circles over who these people(s) were.
The earliest Passage tombs (c. 4090 BC) occur at Carrowmere near the mouth of the Boyne river on the eastern coast of Ireland. Shortly thereafter, the first Wedge tombs were being built in Counties Cork and Kerry in the southwest corner, to be followed shortly thereafter the Stone Circles in the same area. Concurrently, Court Cairns began appearing in Co. Mayo (Central western coast). Not long after the appearance of Court Cairns, portal tombs began appearing in the same locations. This has lead Archeologists to the assumption that Portal Tombs developed from the Court Cairns.
The almost obvious conclusion by the Archeologists is that these constructions were produced by not one, but perhaps three cultural groups. According to De Valera , Three separate invasions of peoples occurred. The initial group were considered as being the first Neolithic farmers. The first would be the Passage tomb builders who settled near the mouth of the Boyne, building the Great Passage tombs of New Grange, Knowth and Dowth, then migrated westward.
The second would be the Court Cairn builders who landed in Co. Mayo to migrate eastward to intermingle with the Passage tomb builders. The last group of immigrants were felt to have landed on the south coast in Co. Kerry, where they began building Wedge-tombs, before migrating northward. I should underscore here the fact that all entries came from the sea some 2500 to 3500 years after the rupture of the last land-bridge between northern Ireland and Scotland.
The shoulders of Archeologists such as De Valera, O Nualláin and Harbison are broad. Thus, it is with some temerity that I would point out that of the megalithic structure types, three (Court Cairns, Passage Tombs and Wedge Tombs) are all mounded. Only the Portal Tomb possesses a unique structure and then not always, as some of them were mounded over also. Therefor I cannot fully accept the theory of three immigrations as the possibility seems to exist that most, if not all, megalithic structures seem to have some common threads, as did the life-styles of the humankind that constructed them.
In my view, it seems logical to believe that the southern and western arrivals from open seas were likely one people who were scattered either by precocious winds or desires for more acceptable and isolated landing beaches. That leaves only the Passage Tomb builders who sailed the narrow sea between Britain and Ireland, staying within sight of land, and passing into the mouth of the River Boyne on the east coast.
One feature causes the Passage Tomb to stand apart from their other Neolithic counterparts in Ireland is the size, purpose and location. The Passage Tombs are immense. The great mound of New Grange is kidney-shaped and measures an average of 103.6 m in diameter and is over 13 m high beyond it's hilltop perch. It is estimated that over one million bags of soil were used in its building. While most Archeologists insist it was a tomb, close examination of what has been found within give reason for reconsideration.
For one thing, though some burials were made within the passage and chamber, they are both cremations and inhumations. This indicates that two different cultures did place their dead within the chamber at some point in time after construction. Further, not only New Grange, but also the Knowth and Dowth chambers are placed in the midst of large cemeteries of single burials. The piece de resistance is that the passageway is directly aligned to the midwinter sunrise. Quite obviously to me, the so-called Passage Tombs are not tombs at all, but rather religious ritual structures.
In examining distribution of the various "tombs," we find some interesting patterns. The majority of the stone structures fall generally in the western half of the island with the except of the line across the narrow waist between counties Louth and Meath on the eastern shore to Sligo and Mayo on the western coast. The reason for this demarcation is that the west and north the country was considerably more lush and supportive of wild game than the somewhat harsher southeastern section during the Neolithic period.
Since the Neolithics, as well as their Mesolithic predecessors were hunter/gatherers they obviously relied on the herds and flocks of the day which included red deer, wild pig, hare and a wide variety of birds and of course, fish. Recent archeological evidence indicates that at least some groups had temporary settlements that they would occupy for a part of the year before moving on to more lucrative hunting following the ebb and flow of native wildlife.
Thus one family or clan may have had as many as three separate semi-permanent dwelling sites within a general area. Still, the apparently burgeoning population developed and increased social awareness and a more permanency of life seem to become established. So it is that the builders of the Passage structures seemed to pioneer the larger, more permanent settlement and large cemeteries were established in the settlements around the great sacred Passage structures.
Until research advances considerably and fills in more of the blanks, we must live by our speculations. That is that there were two primary Neolithic migrations into Ireland. The first were the Passage Grave builders of the Boyne River valley on the eastern coast. C. 4300 BC. The second were the open-sea faring people that settled in the western counties of Kerry, Mayo and Sligo c. 4200 BC.
Their numbers may not have been large. Probably a mere handful, they galvanized their predecessors, the Mesolithic people, into new ideas and new ways, including pastoral life-styles. It has always seemed that Ireland absorbs the new into the old and from it comes something stronger and greater than before. That has been especially true of the various peoples who stepped onto her shores over the millennia. It is here that the Tapestry of Legend and Science begins to weave into a coherent history of the Emerald Isle.
Tuan MacCairill, like historians before and after, wrote from a limited knowledge only of those things he felt important, ignoring the unpleasant and unpopular. We must remember that he was writing some 5,000 years after the fact in the early chronology. The importance and memory of a handful of Stone-Age precursors held no real value to his message. Thus he wrote of the notable and glorified ancestors of the Irish race as a proud descendant, anxious to keep the honor alive. So the Neolithic first settlers were forgotten, only the monumental structures they left behind were worthy of note.
Prepared By Christopher O'Brien
Arriving by crude plank-built boats, they brought with them their tools, live-stock, seed-stocks and their families. They had come to stay. An interesting point is that most of the new-comers landed on the west side of Ireland away from Britain and Europe. The finding of both dug-out boat and boat plank (1.2 m X 5 m) remains at a date approximately coinciding with the beginning of farming on a considerable scale near the sites of the oldest stone structures of the same approximate age seems more than coincidence.
In addition to farming techniques, these new arrivals brought other knowledge to their new home-land. One significant craft was the ability to shape and move large stones and the motivation and dedication to do so. Part of this was obviously religious motivation to properly escort departed family and friends to the Otherworld.
Thus about 4200 BC, the Passage Grave of Carrowmere (near the mouth of the Boyne river) was built. From there development of the Passage Graves began its extension west to Co. Sligo. All told, some 300 passage graves have been identified, including the magnificent New Grange.
In addition to the band across the waist of Ireland, scattered passage graves are found predominantly in the north of the island with some scattered down along the river Liffey as well as a few isolated graves in the south. However, the passage grave seems to be the oldest use of fairly large stones. The location of stone structures and megaliths, including court cairns, wedge tombs, portal graves and court cairns indicate the possibility of two or more distinct groups at work.
Where the Island had remained seemingly isolated and relatively unchanged for over 2000 years, a major transformation suddenly took place. In a mere 300 years (a blink of an eye in historical terms), from circa 4300 BC to 4000 BC, farming cultivation commenced, domestic cattle and horses appeared, the first passage tombs were built, the first megalithic chamber was built, the first planked house appeared, the first wedge tombs were erected and the first stone circles were established.
A further interesting note, this all occurred in the western and north western half of the island - but strangely at three separate locations! A fact which causes dissension in Archeological circles over who these people(s) were.
The earliest Passage tombs (c. 4090 BC) occur at Carrowmere near the mouth of the Boyne river on the eastern coast of Ireland. Shortly thereafter, the first Wedge tombs were being built in Counties Cork and Kerry in the southwest corner, to be followed shortly thereafter the Stone Circles in the same area. Concurrently, Court Cairns began appearing in Co. Mayo (Central western coast). Not long after the appearance of Court Cairns, portal tombs began appearing in the same locations. This has lead Archeologists to the assumption that Portal Tombs developed from the Court Cairns.
The almost obvious conclusion by the Archeologists is that these constructions were produced by not one, but perhaps three cultural groups. According to De Valera , Three separate invasions of peoples occurred. The initial group were considered as being the first Neolithic farmers. The first would be the Passage tomb builders who settled near the mouth of the Boyne, building the Great Passage tombs of New Grange, Knowth and Dowth, then migrated westward.
The second would be the Court Cairn builders who landed in Co. Mayo to migrate eastward to intermingle with the Passage tomb builders. The last group of immigrants were felt to have landed on the south coast in Co. Kerry, where they began building Wedge-tombs, before migrating northward. I should underscore here the fact that all entries came from the sea some 2500 to 3500 years after the rupture of the last land-bridge between northern Ireland and Scotland.
The shoulders of Archeologists such as De Valera, O Nualláin and Harbison are broad. Thus, it is with some temerity that I would point out that of the megalithic structure types, three (Court Cairns, Passage Tombs and Wedge Tombs) are all mounded. Only the Portal Tomb possesses a unique structure and then not always, as some of them were mounded over also. Therefor I cannot fully accept the theory of three immigrations as the possibility seems to exist that most, if not all, megalithic structures seem to have some common threads, as did the life-styles of the humankind that constructed them.
In my view, it seems logical to believe that the southern and western arrivals from open seas were likely one people who were scattered either by precocious winds or desires for more acceptable and isolated landing beaches. That leaves only the Passage Tomb builders who sailed the narrow sea between Britain and Ireland, staying within sight of land, and passing into the mouth of the River Boyne on the east coast.
One feature causes the Passage Tomb to stand apart from their other Neolithic counterparts in Ireland is the size, purpose and location. The Passage Tombs are immense. The great mound of New Grange is kidney-shaped and measures an average of 103.6 m in diameter and is over 13 m high beyond it's hilltop perch. It is estimated that over one million bags of soil were used in its building. While most Archeologists insist it was a tomb, close examination of what has been found within give reason for reconsideration.
For one thing, though some burials were made within the passage and chamber, they are both cremations and inhumations. This indicates that two different cultures did place their dead within the chamber at some point in time after construction. Further, not only New Grange, but also the Knowth and Dowth chambers are placed in the midst of large cemeteries of single burials. The piece de resistance is that the passageway is directly aligned to the midwinter sunrise. Quite obviously to me, the so-called Passage Tombs are not tombs at all, but rather religious ritual structures.
In examining distribution of the various "tombs," we find some interesting patterns. The majority of the stone structures fall generally in the western half of the island with the except of the line across the narrow waist between counties Louth and Meath on the eastern shore to Sligo and Mayo on the western coast. The reason for this demarcation is that the west and north the country was considerably more lush and supportive of wild game than the somewhat harsher southeastern section during the Neolithic period.
Since the Neolithics, as well as their Mesolithic predecessors were hunter/gatherers they obviously relied on the herds and flocks of the day which included red deer, wild pig, hare and a wide variety of birds and of course, fish. Recent archeological evidence indicates that at least some groups had temporary settlements that they would occupy for a part of the year before moving on to more lucrative hunting following the ebb and flow of native wildlife.
Thus one family or clan may have had as many as three separate semi-permanent dwelling sites within a general area. Still, the apparently burgeoning population developed and increased social awareness and a more permanency of life seem to become established. So it is that the builders of the Passage structures seemed to pioneer the larger, more permanent settlement and large cemeteries were established in the settlements around the great sacred Passage structures.
Until research advances considerably and fills in more of the blanks, we must live by our speculations. That is that there were two primary Neolithic migrations into Ireland. The first were the Passage Grave builders of the Boyne River valley on the eastern coast. C. 4300 BC. The second were the open-sea faring people that settled in the western counties of Kerry, Mayo and Sligo c. 4200 BC.
Their numbers may not have been large. Probably a mere handful, they galvanized their predecessors, the Mesolithic people, into new ideas and new ways, including pastoral life-styles. It has always seemed that Ireland absorbs the new into the old and from it comes something stronger and greater than before. That has been especially true of the various peoples who stepped onto her shores over the millennia. It is here that the Tapestry of Legend and Science begins to weave into a coherent history of the Emerald Isle.
Tuan MacCairill, like historians before and after, wrote from a limited knowledge only of those things he felt important, ignoring the unpleasant and unpopular. We must remember that he was writing some 5,000 years after the fact in the early chronology. The importance and memory of a handful of Stone-Age precursors held no real value to his message. Thus he wrote of the notable and glorified ancestors of the Irish race as a proud descendant, anxious to keep the honor alive. So the Neolithic first settlers were forgotten, only the monumental structures they left behind were worthy of note.
Prepared By Christopher O'Brien
The Neolithic Era
The Neolithic Era (c. 4000 - 2000 B.C.) The Neolithic or New Stone Age can be defined as the time when people took up agriculture as a way of life, and stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers.
Sometime around 4000 BC the ideas and technology of farming, and perhaps some of the first livestock, crossed the Channel and arrived in England. Farming quickly spread all across the British Isles, a social revolution every bit as eventful as the Industrial Revolution some 6000 years later.
Neolithic farmers settled in stable communities, cleared land, planted wheat and barley, and raised herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs. What hunting they did as a supplement to their agriculture may have been done with the assistance of small dogs.
They settled on the easily drained soils of the upland hills and on the coastal plains, avoiding the thickly wooded valley bottoms. This meant that the areas of heaviest settlement were the chalk hills of the south and west, where many of their remains can be seen today.
These Neolithic settlers originally lived in rectangular log cabins, similar in style to those of the early American West.
Communities were small, but they were communities, so people could and did indulge in large projects requiring group participation, such as the building of communal graves. More on these later.
Although these people were farmers, they hadn't yet ironed out all the fine details of crop management, so every 10-20 years the land would reach the point where it could no longer support crops and the group would have to move on. Each group, probably no larger than an extended family, seems to have moved around a fairly small region in this way; packing up when the land would no longer produce. In a few generations they could have returned to the original settlement after the land had lain fallow long enough to regenerate.
Clothing seems to have been simple hide garments. Ornamentation was extremely simple; animal teeth and bone necklaces.
Life span was short, about 35 years for men and 30 for women. Arthritis was rampant, as was malnutrition. This was not a Golden Age of Yore; it was a difficult time to scratch a living from the earth.
Sometime around 4000 BC the ideas and technology of farming, and perhaps some of the first livestock, crossed the Channel and arrived in England. Farming quickly spread all across the British Isles, a social revolution every bit as eventful as the Industrial Revolution some 6000 years later.
Neolithic farmers settled in stable communities, cleared land, planted wheat and barley, and raised herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs. What hunting they did as a supplement to their agriculture may have been done with the assistance of small dogs.
They settled on the easily drained soils of the upland hills and on the coastal plains, avoiding the thickly wooded valley bottoms. This meant that the areas of heaviest settlement were the chalk hills of the south and west, where many of their remains can be seen today.
These Neolithic settlers originally lived in rectangular log cabins, similar in style to those of the early American West.
Communities were small, but they were communities, so people could and did indulge in large projects requiring group participation, such as the building of communal graves. More on these later.
Although these people were farmers, they hadn't yet ironed out all the fine details of crop management, so every 10-20 years the land would reach the point where it could no longer support crops and the group would have to move on. Each group, probably no larger than an extended family, seems to have moved around a fairly small region in this way; packing up when the land would no longer produce. In a few generations they could have returned to the original settlement after the land had lain fallow long enough to regenerate.
Clothing seems to have been simple hide garments. Ornamentation was extremely simple; animal teeth and bone necklaces.
Life span was short, about 35 years for men and 30 for women. Arthritis was rampant, as was malnutrition. This was not a Golden Age of Yore; it was a difficult time to scratch a living from the earth.
