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| 23 Oct 2007 01:25:00 pm |
 NSNF – Innismurray |
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NSNF – Innismurray
Innismurray Monastic Site, Co. Sligo
Environment
Inishmurray Island is located in a coastal, rural environment, approximately 8 km off the coast of Co. Sligo. It has been uninhabited since 1948. The island is mainly composed of sandstone cliffs and wave-cut platforms except at the northern extremity where the foreshore is composed of a cobble beach. The vegetation of the island is mainly low grasses and the archaeological structures are exposed to Atlantic storms. The island is suffering from ongoing coastal erosion.
The cashel, church and associated ecclesiastical remains are spread throughout the island with a concentration around the cashel. The nature of the environment is very exposed, however, the monuments within the cashel are sheltered by the rise of the cashel walls. The nearest road is on the mainland, approximately 8 km to the east. The ecclesiastical complex includes cross slabs, tombstones, cashel, cells, churches, altars, cursing stones and associated structures.
Innismurray Cashel and monastic buildings.
Stone: Sandstone (99%)
The monuments on Innismurray were built with the local sandstone. This is a light brown to cream, occasionally white and reddish, medium-grained sandstone occasionally showing graded and cross bedding, micaceous bedding planes and natural fractures. The geological source for this material is the local Mullaghmore Sandstone formation aged Carboniferous. Natural outcrops of this sandstone can be seen at the landing place to the west of the island. Here, the sandstone is well-bedded in thick beds or strata and exhibit a variety of internal sedimentary structures which also appear in the monuments. These include graded and cross bedding, convolution, erosional channels and micaceous planar acumulations. Extensive fractures run perpendicular to the bedding, breaking the strata in more manageable blocks which are easier to quarry. The sandstone can be classified as an argillaceous sandstone. It consists of abundant detrital quartz and feldspar, and lesser amounts of muscovite embedded in an abundant argillaceous matrix. The sandstone also possesses ferruginous cement.
Decay
The most common decay forms affecting the sandstone on Inishmurray are fracturing, differential erosion, scaling, flaking and biological colonisation. The opening up of natural fractures and fracturing across bedding were often noted. Differential erosion along the bedding planes was also common. Biological colonisation by lichen tends to be strong mainly in the interior walls and protected structures inside the cashel. Microscopically, the quartz grains are little affected. The feldspar are usually weathered to clay minerals and sporadically fractured along cleavage planes. The clay matrix weathers by the breakdown and eluviation of clay minerals. Segregation and oxidation of iron was also noticed. The iron cements are filling spaces between grains and partially replacing quartz and feldspar grains. The iron has occassionaly crystallized as euhedral hematite replacing quartz grains, mica or clay matrix. |
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Category : sites
| By : David |  Comments [37] |  Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:23:56 pm |
| NSNF - The Céide Fields, Co. Mayo |
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NSNF - The Céide Fields, Co. Mayo
The Céide Fields are the oldest known field systems in the world, over five and a half millennia old. It is a unique Neolithic landscape of world importance, which has changed our perception of our Stone Age ancestors. The remains of stone field walls, houses and megalithic tombs are preserved beneath a blanket of peat over several square miles. They tell a story of the everyday lives of a farming people, their organized society, their highly developed spiritual beliefs, and their struggle against a changing environment beyond their control.
The discovery of what is now known as Céide Fields really began back in the 1930s when a local schoolteacher, Patrick Caulfield from Belderrig, often noticed piles of stones in the bottom of the bog when cutting his turf. To everybody else these were meaningless but he realised two very important points - firstly, the way the stones were piled up couldn't be natural so somebody had to put them there, and secondly, because they were down underneath the peat they had to be put there prior to the growth of the bog and so must be very ancient.
It was however to be another 40 years and only when this man's son, Seamus, became an archaeologist and began studying these stones in the bogs that it was realised what they were all about. It is now known that these are the remains of a Stone Age landscape of stone walled fields, houses and megalithic tombs over 5,000 years old, preserved beneath the growing blanket bog over thousands of acres in North Mayo.
The continuing research, involving the location and mapping of these hidden walls by a specially developed simple and completely non-destructive method of probing with iron rods, and excavation of habitation sites and tombs is yielding a unique picture of the way of life of our ancestors 200 generations ago. We now know that they were a highly organised large peaceful community of farmers who worked together on clearing hundreds of acres of forestry and dividing the land into regular field systems. Their main economy was cattle rearing but they were skilled craftspeople and builders in both wood and stone and also had strong spiritual beliefs. |
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Category : sites
| By : David | Comments [42] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:23:15 pm |
| NSNF - Creevykeel Court Cairn, Co. Sligo |
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NSNF - Creevykeel Court Cairn, Co. Sligo
Description
Creevykeel Court Cairn consists of a wedge-shaped cairn, dating from between 3500 and 2500 BC, with a burial chamber opening directly opposite the entrance to the central court. The burial chamber is orientated longitudinally in relation to the cairn. The narrow end of the cairn shows two other graves. Creevykeel is classified as a full-court tomb and shows a low line of kerbstones around the exterior of the cairn, with larger orthostats lining the court. The burial chamber is approached through a massive lintelled doorway. The central court also shows an iron smelting area from the Early Christian period. The cairn is orientated north-west to south-east.
Stone: Sandstone (100%)
The cairn was built with a local sandstone. This is a light brown to cream, occasionally white and reddish, medium-grained sandstone sporadically displaying sedimentary structures and natural fractures. Sedimentary structures include graded and cross bedding, micaceous bedding planes and natural fractures.
The sandstone can be classified as an argillaceous sandstone. It consists of abundant detrital quartz and feldspar, and lesser amounts of muscovite embedded in an abundant argillaceous matrix with some ferruginous cement. The geological source for this material is the local Mullaghmore Sandstone formation of the Carboniferous Age. |
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Category : sites
| By : David | Comments [40] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:22:15 pm |
| NSNF – burial rites |
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NSNF – burial rites
At various times during the Neolithic period, different burial rites were followed. Megalithic tombs, large burial monuments built of stone, were popular mainly in the northern half of the country where the commonest types of burial monuments are called Court Tombs, Portal Tombs, and Passage Tombs. In the southern half of the country single burial placed in cists beneath round cairns occur.
The recent development of spatial analysis aids the understanding of social and ritual organisation in prehistoric societies, in this case Irish megalithic 'tombs'. The Court cairns can be shown to have been succeeded by the Passage graves, and to have different spatial distributions. It is proposed that these changes can be related to changes in social organisation and in particular the ritual patterning of the society can be reconstructed from the spatial pattern of the megalithic `tombs' on the landscape today. From this it seems that a segmentary society changed into a chiefdom society in the middle to late neolithic. It can be further shown that within the ritual sub-system of the society there would seem to have been a more pronounced hierarchical structure.
Barrows
Barrows have been constructed in Ireland since the Middle Neolithic and were in use until the early centuries A.D. They may cover or contain megalithic Linkardstown type cists of the Neolithic, all of the burials type of the Bronze Age or cremations or inhumations of the Iron Age. In the east of Ireland the mounds of these sites have been levelled in large numbers, leaving Ring-ditches, or have been remodelled into ceremonial enclosures, as at Tara, or Medieval Mottes as at Rathmore, Co. Kildare. In the east, Ring-ditches have been dated as late as the seventh century AD. Bowl Barrows, often referred to as Tumuli or Moats, have a central dome-shaped mound, 2m or higher, usually enclosed by a fosse and one or more external banks. Where an enclosing fosse is not noted on the ground it is often found during excavation. Saucer barrows have low mounds, usually under 1m, and range from 5-20m in diameter with one or more enclosing fosses and banks. Bell barrows resemble bowls but have a berm between the mound and the fosse. Ring Barrows resemble Saucer barrows but have a flat interior rather than a mound. Another type of barrow has a bank and a hollow interior, these are pond barrows. Excavation has revealed that a significant number of barrows belong to the Iron Age (c. 300 BC-100 A.D), but many are of Bronze Age date as well. The barrows are often found in groups or cemeteries where a number of types can be found together. Sometimes they are found juxtaposed to megalithic cemeteries as at Carrowmore, Co. Sligo or associated with ceremonial enclosures.
Cairns
Barrows have been constructed in Ireland since the Neolithic, when they covered megalithic tombs and were in use until the fourth or fifth centuries A.D. Unlike barrows cairns are a by-product of agricultural clearance and in upland areas and on thin soils covering exposed geological formations would have been a readily available building material. Cairns are usually of three types. High cairns, resembling bowl barrows, which often covered passage tombs, much lower cairns of less than 2m in height with flat tops and ring cairns, which enclosed a central burial. A number of the cairns covering megalithic tombs had Bronze Age cists added to them or had the central chambers re-used for Bronze Age burial.
Ringforts and Cashels
Ringforts are the most common site type in Ireland. They were primarily built and used during the Early Christian period, 500-1200 AD. They are differentiated from cashels in having enclosing banks composed of dumped earth and sometimes a mixture of earth and stone. However these distinctions are not clear cut and some sites had earthen banks faced with stone, or had sections of the enclosing element composed alternately of earth or stone. In some cases the enclosing element is so eroded or robbed out and sod covered that it can be difficult to determine if it had originally been a wall or bank. The distinctions between ringforts and cashels may be more apparent to archaeologist than the people who built and used the sites and the choice of enclosing a site with stone or earth, or a combination of the two may have been determined by the availability of material, the difficulty of digging a fosse as well as social concerns of status, manpower and legal restraints.
Cashels were constructed at the same period and fulfilled the same functions as ringforts. They differ in their construction technique, being assembled rather than quarried and piled up, and therefore usually lack an enclosing fosse. The usual technique was usually to construct two concentric drystone walls of medium-sized blocks and slabs, limestone was the preferred material, set on a foundation of large boulders. The are between was then infilled with rubble. The construction technique allowed for some elaboration and in some case chambers were built into the walls, sometimes linked to souterrains, and stone steps might lead to broad wall walks. The walls are often, when well preserved, 2m or higher. As they represent a ready source of stone may have been plundered to build field walls, roads and houses. The quarrying and or collection of suitable stone, its transport and the requirements for skilled wall builders made a cashel a more expensive alternative to a ringfort and they are much leass common. They are also restricted to areas where suitable stone was available. Individuals unable to construct a complete cashel may have added stone revetments to ringforts to make them resemble cashels. Stone enclosure at Carrigillihy, Co. Cork was found to date to the Early Bronze Age and some cashels appear to have been occupied into the medieval period so that the site type appears to have a long currency.
Brochs
The massive Iron Age structures known as brochs are unique to north and west of Scotland.
Huge drystone towers, brochs are concentrated mainly in the northern tip of the Scottish mainland and the Northern Isles, with some also scattered across the west coast of Scotland and the Western Isles.
In total, at least 700 brochs are known to have existed across Scotland, constructed and developed over the period between 600 BC and 100 AD. Of these, archaeologists know of at least 50 in Orkney.
The actual number of Orcadian broch sites is likely to be much higher, however, as there are numerous unexcavated mounds throughout Orkney that may well contain broch remains.
What is a broch?
A typical broch stood from five to 13 metres high. It was a circular two-story drystone structure, accessed by a single door at ground level. Inside was a main inner "chamber" from which smaller cells - either built into, or up against, the wall - branched off. A winding stone staircase, housed within the broch's double walls, led upwards to elevated floors and finally the top of the structure. Although, like the earlier roundhouses, it is possible that some brochs were no more than fortified dwellings, the majority are thought to have had a defensive function and are characterised by immensely thick outer walls.
Orkney's brochs were feats of considerable architectural and engineering expertise, the key to which was the principle of double-skinned walls. Stronger and more stable than a single wall, the brochs had two parallel walls built with a hollow space between. These two outer "skins" were bonded at certain heights by stone lintel slabs - a method that allowed the broch's constructors to build to greater heights than could be achieved with solid walls.
"To construct stable walls of such height, in unmortared masonry or undressed stones shaped only by splitting, called for an engineer's understanding of force and stress."
Dr Raymond Lamb
Underground chambers
An intriguing element about the construction of Orkney's brochs, is that many of them were found to have an underground chamber, often accessed via a flight of stone steps. At one time these chambers were dismissed as domestic wells or cellar, but recent research has hinted at a more ritual use.
Souterrains
Souterrains are artificial, subterranean (or semi-subterranean) structures built to allow access and usually associated with habitation. They are common in ringforts and cashels of the Early Christian period c.A.D. 500-1200 A.D and appear to have been used as an underground bolt-hole if a ringfort was attacked and the simpler examples, without complex chambers and defensive arrangements such as creeps, were probably also a secure place to store valuables and perishable foods such as meat, butter or grain. In a sense the souterrains could represent the most defensive aspect of a ringfort and it has been suggested that their uneven distribution may indicate that they were constructed by tribal groupings engaged in struggles with neighbouring groups. The clustered distribution of souterrains has been further emphasized by the ongoing work of the Archaeological Survey. For example no souterrains were noted in any of the 261 enclosures and ringforts recently published in the inventory of county Carlow. |
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Category : culture
| By : David | Comments [76] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:21:28 pm |
| NSNF – Genetic origins |
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NSNF – Genetic origins
Ireland
Current genetic research supports the idea that the Y-chromosomes and mtDNA of people living in Britain and Ireland are mainly descended from the indigenous European Palaeolithic population, with a smaller Neolithic input particularly with the Y-chromosomes and mtDNA from people of the Celtiberians or Galicians of Galicia. Palaeolithic Europeans seem to have been a homogenous population, possibly due to a population bottleneck (or near-extinction event) on the Iberian Peninsula, where a small human population is thought to have survived the glaciation, and then expanded into Europe during the Mesolithic period. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger Neolithic representation in the east of Europe and stronger Palaeolithic representation in the west of Europe. This Haplotype cline reaches its maximum among the Irish of Connaught (98.3%). Overall the frequencies of Y-chromosome haplotypes in the Irish population are similar to that of most other populations of Atlantic Europe, especially the Basques of northern Spain and southern France. The genetic evidence shows that a large proportion of Irish Celts, on both the male and female side, arrived from Iberia at or the same time as farming reached the Isles.
Cultural elite?
Given the effort needed to produce megalithic constructions it has been proposed (V.G. Childe in Man makes himself) that with the introduction of farming came greater specialisation within the population; the creation of priests, merchants, chiefs, warriors and so on. From this point onwards an entirely new set of opportunities would have existed for individuals with unusual talents to flourish in. Although Childs diffusionist theory of wholesale Neolithic invasions spreading from the near east is not bourn up in the genetic record, the suggestion (Euan MacKie, the Megalith builders) that a Neolithic intellectual elite was able to flourish through out Europe is hinted at in the archaeological and genetic record. From sites such as Durrington Walls in England, nearby middens have produced co-existing communities consuming very different diets. Analogous to the Saxon/Norman divide in England of the early middle ages, one section of the community for at least a 1,000 years had a diet almost exclusively of butchered meat. Emblemised by the common use of the megalithic yard (0.829m) throughout Europe, is the suggestion of a technological and cultural elite supported by a subservient indigenous population produced the megalithic culture of the Neolithic period. |
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Category : General
| By : David | Comments [38] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:20:24 pm |
| NSNF - The Island of Ireland - Land use |
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NSNF - The Island of Ireland
Irish Landbridge.
Ireland was at various times largely glaciated and completely land-locked as a part of the continent of Europe. Believed to have been an island about 125,000 years ago when the sea level appears to have been very close to its present position. The sea level dropped 130 m (426 feet) or more during the interval from around 30,000 to 15,000 years ago, when Ireland became part of continental Europe [again], and sea levels have been generally rising ever since, albeit at a much slower rate. of about 18000 BC - 16000 BC the thick glacial ice could expand no more and slowly began to melt or evaporate. At the same time the sea levels slowly began to increase. The figure to the left represents Europe in a period just after the ice sheet recedes from southern Ireland. Take special notice of the land mass connecting northern France with Ireland. By about 12000 BC plant cover began to appear in Ireland. For a thousand years, Ireland was a place of open meadows. Possibly still not an island, Ireland begins to take shape about 12,000 to 11,000 radiocarbon years ago (perhaps 11500 to 10000 BC). About 11000 BC junipers began to appear. This, tough, low-statured evergreen survives well on poor soils, and thrived in the warming climate. Other plants and animals, including the Giant Deer and Reindeer, also arrived, crossing land bridges from the English mainland into Ireland. Estimated between 11000 to 9000 BC the earth's temperature fluctuated, dropped overall, and subsequent periods of glaciation again occurred in Ireland. Possibly due to disease and/or a loss of food supply, the Giant Deer (Megaceros) became extinct in Ireland and the Reindeer disappeared from Ireland.
Dates on the freshwater sediments found on the shelf of the Irish Sea, coupled with the results of geophysical modelling of Earth crustal rebound from ice loading, suggest a severance of any landbridge connection between Britain and Ireland by 10000 BC (again, plus or minus a few thousand years depending on the paleogeographic model). It is interesting to note that 15000 years ago the landbridge was thought to be in the south, at a time when the glacial ice had receded into Ulster and northern Scotland.
After about 9000 BC, the climate again warmed, the juniper spread, and the birch appeared in large numbers for the first time. Pine, elm and other forest trees also appeared, and Ireland began a long-term process of forestation. Other plants and animals crossed the land bridges as well. Red deer, wild boar, possibly bears, red squirrels, pine-martens, Wolves, foxes, stoats, and eagles and other birds of prey took up residence. Fish and game birds were soon present in abundance.
The oldest peats within the vast areas of Ireland's peatlands were formed in the midlands about 9000 years ago (c 7000 BC). Over time the following trees make their appearance into the peat deposits archaeological record: birch, willow, pine, hazel, elm, oak, alder, and lime.
A wide range of dates have been offered for Ireland to become a separate island, i.e. for the closure of landbridges between Britain and Ireland. Estimates have generally ranged anytime from about 10000 BC to 5700 BC. Once Ireland became an island the days of easy migration were over, and subsequently, any animals that couldn't fly or swim could only make the journey by means of human intervention. Long after the connection between England and Ireland was severed, England was still a peninsula of Europe, and so the migration of plants and animals moving northward into the lands abandoned by the ice continued to enter England for some time after the flow to Ireland had been cut off. As a result, England developed a much greater variety of plants and animals than Ireland. There are approximately 30% less species in Ireland's natural environmental record (e.g. plants) in comparison to Britain.
It is possible, even likely, that there was migrant human habitation previous to the Mesolithic era, although no conclusive remains have survived, distinctive of succeeding settlements. It is important to note, that no extensive excavation efforts have been staged as yet (c. 1994) to explore the sites which could possibly date to earlier periods.
Throughout Ireland, the Later Mesolithic appears to consist of short-term encampments associated with aquatic ecosystems. Ireland's oldest known boat, a canoe, is dated to about 5000 BC during the later Mesolithic period.
Human Settlement of Ireland
Mesolithic
The first definite evidence of human settlement in Ireland dates from 8000 to 7000 BC. They are known from early archaeological findings to have made an appearance in the far north in the lower Bann valley near present-day Coleraine and in the southwest in the Shannon estuary. Later they are thought to spread northeast along the coast of Antrim and followed the Bann upstream to Lough Neagh. They also settled down to an industrious existence on the shore of Larne Lough just north of present-day Belfast, where they chipped flints for implements. These people, mesolithic hunter-gatherers without domestic animals or farming skills, huddled for the most part along the coasts and waterways. As a consequence, these early arrivals had little impact on the environment.
One of the earliest claimed radiocarbon dates for the human inhabitation of Ireland was about 7490 bc. The sample that documents this date was obtained from a primitive settlement that contained charcoal remains at Woodpark in County Sligo. One of the oldest and best documented sites of early human habitation on Ireland is Mount Sandel, County Derry. The excavations uncovered hearths and postholes from early Mesolithic dwellings. Radiocarbon dates show the site was occupied about 7000 - 6500 bc. Early Mesolithic people mainly used small flint blades called microliths, many of which have been found in the area around the site. In the absence of large animals at this period in Ireland these Mesolithic people appear to have relied upon a diet of wild boar, birds, fish and hazelnuts.
Neolithic
The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, period has been cited from about 4000 to 2500 BC. The general pattern of carbon-14 dating determinations suggests that the Neolithic Period in Ireland began about 3000 bc (un-calibrated radiocarbon years). Neolithic migrant men and women were Ireland's first farmers who raised animals and cultivated the soil.
A major production and use of Irish Stone Axes is noted during Neolithic times. Stone axes are however known to have been in use from the earliest known phase of human settlement in the Early Mesolithic Period (c. 7000 BC). Over 20,000 axes have been found. The earliest Neolithic pottery found in Ulster (Lyles Hill pottery) is similar to pottery found in northern Britain, suggesting that some of the earliest Neolithic colonists may have come to Ireland from northern Britain.
Around 3800 BC Neolithic agriculturists began arriving in large numbers. These early farmers were the builders of the famous mounds and passage tombs, which are more densely packed into Ireland than into any other country. Domesticated cattle, sheep and goats were imported to Ireland at the beginning of the Neolithic period, together with cereals.
Neolithic farmers may have lived in larger communities rather than simply in isolated farmsteads. This is illustrated by the Céide Fields site in Co. Mayo, where an extensive Neolithic field system with stone walls has been preserved below a thick layer of peat.
The oldest known Neolithic house in Ireland (or Britain) was a wooden house, 6.5m by 6m, uncovered at an excavation at Ballynagilly, near Cookstown, County Tyrone. It was radio-carbon dated to approximately 3215 bc. This is only slightly later than the first record of (domesticated) cattle, datable to about 3430 bc, in County Down.
Megalithic structures
Court cairns and Passage cairns (passage tombs?) may be found dating from the Neolithic, perhaps beginning as early as 4200 to 3500 BC. The Passage Cairn (grave?) of Carrowmere (near the mouth of the Boyne river) has been dated (by some) from about 4200 BC. The Passage cairn at Newgrange has been dated to about 3200-3100 BC. In all some 300 Passage cairns have been identified, with many found along a line from County Meath to County Sligo. This form of megalithic structure is distinguished as a round mound of earth and stone having, roughly in the center, a burial chamber which is reached by a passage leading in from the edge of the mound. Excavation of Passage cairns have produced cremation (burnt human remains) burials, with inhumation (interment of human bodies) being generally rarer. It is probable the Passage Cairns were Sacred Temples of Religious and Ceremonial importance, much as present day Cathedrals are primarily places of worship where Church and Royal dignitaries may be laid to rest. The astronomical alignment of some of these cairns, notably at Newgrange and Loughcrew, seem to place credence to the view they were used for ceremonial, and possibly astrological, purposes.
Court cairns (like the one at Creevykeel, Co. Sligo) are almost exclusively found in the northern part of Ireland, with large concentrations in northern Connaught and across southern Ulster. Over 350 Court cairns have been recognized as of this writing. They are generally recognizable as a long mound (of stones), with a forecourt at one end leading into a long and often subdivided chamber. Considerable variations on this basic scheme are known. Cremation burials have been associated with Court cairns, but it is not clear whether their primary function was that of a place of burial. It is worth noting that Court cairns are never grouped together as cemeteries, and in their isolation, may have served as the focal cult center for a scattered population.
Portal tombs (or chambers) are claimed to be mainly constructed between 3000 and 2000 BC. The majority of these are found in the north of Ireland, with another concentration of tombs found along a line from Dublin toward Waterford. About 161 Portal tombs, including those more commonly called dolmens, have been found. They are generally classified as above ground burial chambers, consisting of a number of upright stones covered by one of two capstones, and sometimes placed in a long or round mound.
The Copper and Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in Ireland is normally considered to start in a range from 2500 BC to 2000 BC, and to end anywhere from 600 BC or 300 BC. The construction of the Passage tomb at Tara known as Duma na nGiall (the mound of the Hostages) has been carbon dated between 3030 to 2190 (14C) bc. Throughout the early Bronze Age Ireland had a flourishing metal industry, and bronze, copper, and gold objects were exported widely to Britain and the Continent. More Bronze Age gold hoards have been discovered in Ireland than anywhere else in Europe. The earliest metal tools found in Ireland were made of copper and were concentrated in Munster, where early copper mines have been noted. The prehistoric mines on the slopes of Mount Gabriel in Co. Cork consist of some 25 mineshafts. Some of the more prolific copper items that have been found from the early Bronze age include axes, daggers and halberds.
About 2150 bc the "Bell-Beaker" culture, named for the bell-shaped vessels they left behind, began to make an appearance in Ireland. The culture is known as one of more technologically advanced people, who made and used metal and finely polished stone tools. It has been suggested that with this culture may have come the original language which evolved into Irish Gaelic, a very difficut proposition to actually prove.
Wedge tombs (about 400) are considered to be built mainly between 2000 and 1500 BC, and Bell-Beaker pottery are often associated with them. Similar tombs also associated with Beaker finds are common in the French region of Brittany, and the origin of the Irish series seems connected to this region. Wedge tombs are found scattered throughout northern Ireland, with large concentrations in the west, particularly around County Clare, northern Connaught, and County Cork. For the most part Wedge tombs have long, rectangular burial chambers usually roofed with large stones, and placed in a long, wedge-shaped mound.
Other monuments to be mentioned around the Beaker-using period is that of Stone Circles. Of the more than 200 stone circles almost 100 are concentrated in the southwestern counties of Cork and Kerry, many of them consisting of no more than five stones. Somewhat unexpected in the southwest of Ireland are four stone groupings known as "Four Posters", which find their closest counterpart in northern England and Scotland. Another great concentration of stone circles is found in central and southwestern Ulster in the north of Ireland, often consisting of more stones than found in the southwest of Ireland.
The Late Bronze Age begins around 1200 BC, and brings to Ireland "a whole new range of bronze implements and weapons, such as socketed axe-heads and swords." This is an age strongly identified with the appearance of the first "hill forts" and "ring forts", a mark of Hallstatt Celtic culture, which appear only to date back to the seventh century BC in central Europe. A common type of dwelling in use at this time is said to be crannóg, an artificial island, palisaded on all sides, constructed in the middle of a lake.
The Ring Fort at Mooghaun South in County Clare shows evidence for settlement during the Late Bronze Age after its construction around 1260-930 BC (or earlier). Other evidence of ring forts seem to suggest a Late Bronze Age start for construction of this type, although a wide range of later dates have also been suggested.
Celtic Culture
Cultural change in the later prehistoric period in Ireland was traditionally explained in terms of the emigration of Celtic peoples from continental Europe. In contrast, modern archaeological research has produced a growing consensus that the period was marked by general cultural continuity with little evidence of external intrusion. The only historical reference to a Celtic invasion is in Britain, which is that of the Belgae who conquered parts of the south east of England in 75 BC.
By about 700 BC, swords of the Hallstatt type start to appear in Ireland, but these were made of bronze, not of iron, so it seems likely that these were bronze copies made by local smiths. Celtic languages and culture are thought to have their roots in the latter part of the Hallstatt culture (about 800 to 475 BC) during the Iron Age in the upper Rhine and Danube valleys of central Europe.
The arrival of the Iron Age may have begun as early as 500 BC and lasted up to 500 AD, although there have been no clear indications iron was the predominant metal for weapon making in Ireland until around the third century BC. Long earthworks such as the Dorsey in Co. Armagh and the Black Pig's Dyke, which run across much of lower Ulster, were thought to be built during the Iron Age. The earliest waves of Celtic migrants may have reached the country as early as the 6th century BC (or before) with subsequent groups arriving up to the time of Christ. The Celts belonged linguistically to the great Indo-European family. They soon came to dominate Ireland and it's earlier people, as told to us by the great Irish sagas of the pre-Christian period.
The La Tène culture (which may date in Ireland from 300 BC or earlier) is represented in a unique stlye of metalwork and some stone sculpture, mainly found in the northern half of the country. Connections with northern England are apparent. By about 100 BC Irish bogs were being drained for more farmland, and some of the forest had been cleared. This is often associated with the arrival of La Tene Celtic culture into Ireland.
Hill-fort building seems very characteristic of the Iron Age, they are more numerous in the southern half of Ireland which is an area almost entirely lacking in La Tene decorated material, suggesting a dual nature of Irish culture or population during the Iron Age.
Historical Records
The earliest possible written reference to Ireland is in the Peripolous of Himilco, the Carthaginian who wrote in the 6th century BC. In it he references Celtic tribes on the North Sea, as well as in France and Spain. Writing in the late 4th century BC Pytheus refers to the British Isles as the Pretanic islands, from Priteni, terms which allude to a Celtic connection for the islands. A Greek name for the island as Ierne, as mentioned by Strabo in his work Geography. In De Bello Gallico, written about 52 BC, Caesar refers to name Hibernia. Ptolemy produced the first map (of Hibernia) with identifiable features about the middle of the 2nd century AD. In his Ora Maritima (4th century AD), based on a Greek original of the early 6th century BC, Festus Rufus Avienus refers to Ireland as Insula sacra (holy island) and to the inhabitants as gens hiernorum. The modern country's name of Éire (Gaeilge for Ireland) is thought to be derived, among others, from an early tribal group of Ireland referred to as the Érainn (aka Iverni). |
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Category : geology
| By : David | Comments [55] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:17:58 pm |
| NSNF – the toolmaker |
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NSNF – the toolmaker
Mesolithic
These were hunters whose tools and equipment were fashioned from stone, wood, bone, animal hides and other natural raw materials. Excavation has produced tiny blades and points called microliths. By around 4500 BC composite tools appear to have been replaced by larger flake implements called Bann Flakes. One such Bann Flake was found at Cloonarragh, Co. Roscommon where close by was found a polished stone spearhead dated 4300 – 3900 BC made of black baked hornfels.
Neolithic
By around 3700 BC farming replaced the hunting and gathering economy of Mesolithic Ireland and the large numbers of polished stone axes that survive from the Neolithic period bear witness to the extensive woodland clearance that began at this time. The stone axe was an indispensable general tool, supplemented occasionally for more specialist work by polished stone chisels and adzes. Axe factories at Rathlin Island and Tievebulliagh Mountain, Co Antrim utilised a rock called porcellanite and the products were traded over long distances. An Antrim made axe and chisel were found in the Shannon at Killaloe, Co. Clare, perhaps lost by a person crossing the river. Exotic stone axes made from rare materials such as jadeite have been found at Raymoghy, Co Donegal, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary and Paslickstown, Co. Westmeath. These axes originated in the Piedmont area of Alpine Italy greater numbers of which have been found in Britain.
In a bog at Aghintemple, Co. Longford was found a Neolithic woven bag that contained a small stone axe, a better preserved bag found at Twyford, Co Westmeath is circular with two handles, and made by a simple coiling technique using naturally available vegetal material.
Deposition in Neolithic burials include diminutive axes, maceheads , javelin points and other examples of the knapper’s art. Neolithic household goods included undecorated, often shouldered, pottery bowls used for storage and cooking while finely decorated vessels were made to accompany burials. Small Necked Vessels with elaborate designs are associated with single burials placed in cists beneath round cairns. In these inhumations have been found skeletons with assortments of beads and amulets suggesting attention was lavished on attire and personal adornment.
It’s a safe assumption that rope existed from impressions left on Neolithic pots. Corded ware is named after impressions from cords wrapped around the pot before it was fired. Analysis shows that hemp was used for rope, but few tests of the stress and strain of such ropes have been made. The method of erecting the stone structures is open to interpretation, but it is likely that a system of platforms, ropes, levers, and pulleys was used to raise them. Calculations based on the size and weight of the stones suggest that the largest would have taken around 20 men to raise, with the same number needed to make sure that it remained standing before backfilling the hole. From finds of cattle shoulder blade shovels and antler picks and rakes in Neolithic flint mines, it can be assumed that these materials were common for tool manufacture. |
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Category : archeology
| By : David | Comments [75] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Oct 2007 01:16:51 pm |
| NSNF – Early sea-faring |
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NSNF – Early sea-faring
Neolithic oddities
American Archaeologist Alice Kehoe has suggested two archaeological oddities in north-east America that can perhaps be best explained by the idea of very early two-way transatlantic trade. The first is the appearance, around 2500 BC, of wood-working tools and fishing gear in the Great Lakes area, and shortly afterwards, ground slate knives in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries: she thinks that cod fishermen may have strayed across the Atlantic, and brought back the new, more efficient slate for gutting their catch. Her other example is some distinctive pottery of the Early Woodland period in America around 1000 BC that closely matches Baltic pottery of the same age.
Another archaeological dispute in north east America centres on the enigmatic standing stones and ‘burial mounds’ of New England; some hundreds of these have been discovered, in shape and appearance similar but not identical to European megaliths. Local antiquarians are convinced that they are ancient and evidence of trans-Atlantic colonization.
(Does evidence of such show up in the genetic evidence from New England Native Americans?)
Early Navigation
· Star Carr , Yorkshire – England; earliest known paddle, c 7500 BC
· Pesse – Holland; earliest known boat, c 6400 BC
· Denmark; rock paintings of skin-boats, c 2000 BC
Evidence from the Franchthi cave in the Peloponnese show that in the seventh millennium BC fishing and an obsidian trade with the island of Melos, 120 km away was being undertaken.
Alice Kehoe has also put forward the hypothesis that the traditional Celtic currachs were modelled on Neolithic archetypes. She cites classical and pre-medieval descriptions of some Irish boats large enough to support a mast and hold 20 men. “It is likely” that at least from 4500 BC onwards, the western European megalith builders were using currachs from Iberia in the south to the Western Isles of Scotland.
Viking Navigation
· Vikings around 1000 AD used ‘sunstones’ of cordierite crystals.
To a large extent Viking navigation was carried on within sight of land, but quite often they would have had to cross miles of open sea, and would need navigational aids. There is no evidence for the use of magnetic compasses and only a passing reference in the literature of “sólarsteinn” being used for navigation. Aside celestial navigation by the sun and stars, and familiarity of the behaviours of various creatures, it has been suggested that Viking navigators used simple bearing-dials and azimuth tables (examples of which are dated from the mid-fourteenth century and the eleventh respectively). In one text (Landnámabók) the directions to Greenland are as follows:
From Hernar in Norway one is to keep sailing west for Hvarf in Greenland and then you will sail north of Shetland so that you can just sight it in very clear weather; but south of the Faroes so that the sea appears half-way up the mountain slopes; but on, south Iceland so that you may have birds and whales from it.
Even with the seaworthiness of the Viking boats and good navigational knowledge such ocean voyages were a hazardous business. It is recorded that of the twenty-five ships which left Iceland for the colonization of Greenland only fourteen reached their destination. |
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Category : culture
| By : David | Comments [56] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 20 Oct 2007 11:42:13 am |
| Newsites Newfields Is Live |
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The New sites New fields web site is now live. You can now begin to blog.
Sean & Mark will meet on Thursday 25th Oct 11am. This meeting is to discuss the visual aspect of the Site.
Brand graphics, look, feel, tone. We will also look at the Navigation aspect to the site, top level & second level.
If you have any ideas / visual aspirations for the design please, contribute.
Web sites you think are nice, cool, good functional or navigation aspects.
All thoughts are welcomed.
If you have any problems with the blog admin contact, Mark or Eoin on 071 98 55750
Happy blogging!
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Category : General
| By : admin | Comments [47] | Trackbacks [0] |
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