Irelands ancient history in a snip

Ireland’s history can be broken up into various periods, or ages. First -Mesolithic period,8000 – 4000 BC, when the first habitation appears on the island. Second – 4000 and 2500 BC was the Neolithic period when the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic eras learned to use stone tools and first discovered agriculture. Next came the Bronze Age, from 2500 BC. When the Celts came along 2000 years later, they instigated the Iron Age. Up until then they had been working with stone. As metal tools were much stronger and longer lasting than stone, it meant that people’s lives became much more efficient and their activities much more effective. This allowed more time for them to take up other, more creative pursuits, and saw the beginnings of artistic development in this civilization.

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The Irish Bronze Age dates from approximately 2500 BC to 500BC. The period is characterised by the wealth of new, innovative and exciting metalworking techniques. The population of Bronze Age Ireland was highly organised.

Archaeological discoveries from this period include domestic sites (fulacht fiadh, enclosures and campsites), burials (wedge tombs, ringbarrows, cists and flat cemeteries) and ritual monuments (henges, hillforts, timber circles and cursus monuments). Sacred landscapes such as bogs, pools, caves, coastal sites, river fords and mountain tops, were the settings for communal activities. These activities included the burial of hoards of weapons, jewellery or tools and other votive offerings like bog bodies, bog butter, weapons and vessels deposited as offerings to the gods. These artefacts offer an insight into the complex and ritualistic aspects of Bronze Age Ireland.

Archaeologists divide the Bronze Age into three periods: Early, Middle and Late. These divisions are founded on the advancement of technological and cultural developments.

Early Bronze Age began in Ireland in approximately 2500BC. This period saw the introduction of several significant innovations, most notably the development of metalworking. Copper and gold were amongst the earliest metals used.