Irish prehistory

The book is a synthesis of archaeological work in the Belfast area, tracing human activity from the Mesolithic to the present day.

The most important sites in the city and surrounding area are described, and following an examination of the plentiful evidence for prehistoric activity four main phases of nucleated settlement identified, beginning with the Anglo-Norman settlement in the 13th century.

One site is chosen from each chronological period for more detailed analysis.  These are: The Giant's Ring, Shankill Church and Graveyard, the three castles that once stood in Belfast city centre, the late 17th century 'Potthouse' (pottery) and the Ballymacarrett Glassworks.
There are full references in the text to each site discussed .  An appendix listing excavations carried out in and around Belfast and a detailed archaeological bibliography of Belfast are provided at the end of the book.

Published by Tandem in 2011.

This paper traces the development of techniques of recording carvings on megalithic tombs and on open-air rock-art in Ireland from 1699 to the present day. Analysis shows that after the initial pioneering phase, recording methodologies tended to develop in accelerated bursts, interspersed with lulls in activity. In all, four phases of activity can be identified; in each there were a critical number of researchers who interacted with each other, driving forward advances in various forms of recording methods. Part 2 of the paper describes the application of new methods of digital recording, notably Structure from Motion photogrammetry. It shows how the resulting data have been used to create new ways of experiencing Irish prehistoric art in virtual environments, either as entire monuments in the landscape or within a “virtual museum”, using the open-source Blender 3D animation and game engine software.

The appearance of the rectilinear house form in the Irish Neolithic landscape was both unprecedented and short lived. Their appearance coincided with the definite appearance of arable agriculture on the island. Their disappearance also coincided with the disappearance of this form of agriculture. The island wide similarity in their form and probable functions is remarkable. They served as both functional and symbolic focal points in the landscape for their inhabitants, and they had a major influence on burial practice. Evidence for both deliberate deposition and deliberate destruction has been found at a number of sites, indicating their ritual significance to contemporaries. They also had an important role in the socialisation of successive generations of agriculturalists.

A recent genetic study has revealed that the adult male buried in the most elaborate recess of the Neolithic passage-tomb at Newgrange was the child of a first-degree incestuous union, suggesting that the complex was built as a burial monument for an endogamous family elite who may have been regarded as “god-kings.” The present paper shows how closely the bioarchaeological reality is paralled by the mythology of the site. Mythological narratives reveal the acceptance, prevalence and prestige of close consanguineous unions among the divine royalty of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the mythologically-nominated builders and users of Newgrange.

This part of our work has been released copyright free, provided that original credit is given. The second part of the ebook after the Tocharian section was written by Michael Schmidt and taken from his original writings. Since winter 2017 he has returned to Albania from Utrecht to retire. He has kindly let me re publish his work here to publish as a free e book. It's not possible to date a language using genetics or historical models. These historic models were sometimes biased towards written history, which isn't always accurate. We have searched maps to find consistency between certain types of archaeological sites and the words used to name them. We have found some consistency between Afro Asiatic words and different archaeological site types in Britain. There are other associations between different types of Celtic word and other archaeological sites, but we can't tell if the language used was actually Celtic, or a predecessor to Celtic which was predecessor to Celtic. The first Neolithic culture in England was the Windmill Hill culture, which wasn't connected to the earlier spread of Neolithic technology from Dingle in South West Ireland. The province of Munster provides an important key to understanding the spread of Celtic identity. There was Mesolithic settlement in Munster, and then early Neolithic finds were discovered on the Dingle Peninsula. It is believed that from here, the Neolithic technology went to Connaught, then to the Irish Sea and to Wales and the Isle of Man. This is consistent with the spread of Gaelic, the most archaic Gaelic dialects are spoken in Munster, alongside the most Ogham stones. The Isle of Man also has a lot of Ogham stones, so we can assume an early Irish influence. There are also Ogham stones in Wales, and evidence that West Wales and Anglesey were historically Irish, implying that the Goidelic languages had a lot to do with the founding of Celtic elements in West Britain. The spread of Bronze Age technology also went from the copper mines in Munster, to the gold mines elsewhere in Ireland, and to the copper and gold mines in Wales and parts of England. There is a very clear west to east movement of trade and technology, which is not the same cultural matrix as the east to west spread of the Neolithic via England. The Windmill Hill culture was concentrated in Essex and Norfolk, but this also spread to South West England, an example is Wor Barrow in Dorset. *Wor or *war is a root that can be connected to the Finnish word for mountain, vuori, and the Afro Asiatic word *war-which means to grow or increase. This word has symbolic connotations and seems connected to the Neolithic beliefs about the dead and the way that they nourished the land.

An annotated table which attempts to reconcile the mythological 'Takings of Ireland' from the Lebor Gabála Érenn with real-world migrations to the island and/or cultural developments within it, as established by archaeology and population genetics (the latter drawn from recent aDNA analyses).

The inland promontory fort at Knock Dhu was the subject of limited excavations in 2008. This paper provides a full account of those excavations and considers the place of hillforts and promontory forts within the Later Bronze Age settlement sequence. The long-term social consequences of a phase of permanent nucleated settlement in the Later Bronze Age are also considered.

About 600 radiocarbon dates are now available for the Irish Bronze Age. The aim of this contribution is to provide a general survey of these dates, to show where advances have been made and to indicate areas which should be looked at in the future. The dates are presented in the framework of the following phases: an introductory phase, an Earlier Bronze Age, a Transitional phase and a Later Bronze Age. These four phases have been identified chiefly to facilitate the discussion of the 2000 years of the Bronze Age as represented by the dates and are not meant to suggest discontinuity of cultural practices.

The excavation and conservation of the two portal tombs at Killaclohane, Co. Kerry produced a wealth of evidence relating to the construction and use of the two tombs, from the early Neolithic right into the historic period, both for burial and as important focii in the social, political and cultural landscape of the area for millennia. The results of the excavations and research are outlined and discussed from both a regional and national perspective with detailed analysis of finds from the tombs by recognized experts in their respective fields. Published August 24th 2021

Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare, has produced the first evidence for human occupation on the island of Ireland during the Palaeolithic. A butchered brown bear patella discovered in the cave during excavations by the Committee Appointed to Explore Irish Caves in 1902 was recently dated by AMS to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) period. As part of current investigations into the cave, this paper presents hitherto unpublished data on the archaeological and palaeontological context of the antiquarian discoveries based on detailed analysis of an unpublished notebook related to the 1902 excavation. A GIS reconstruction of the original antiquarian grid system has facilitated a visualisation of the spatial distribution of artefacts, human bones and faunal remains found at the cave. This provides a more nuanced understanding of human activities at this multi-period site and highlights the role of natural formation processes at the cave, particularly with regard to the bones of extinct ...

Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare, has produced the first evidence for human occupation on the island of Ireland during the Palaeolithic. A butchered brown bear patella discovered in the cave during excavations by the Committee Appointed to Explore Irish Caves in 1902 was recently dated by AMS to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) period. As part of current investigations into the cave, this paper presents hitherto unpublished data on the archaeological and palaeontological context of the antiquarian discoveries based on detailed analysis of an unpublished notebook related to the 1902 excavation. A GIS reconstruction of the original antiquarian grid system has facilitated a visualisation of the spatial distribution of artefacts, human bones and faunal remains found at the cave. This provides a more nuanced understanding of human activities at this multi-period site and highlights the role of natural formation processes at the cave, particularly with regard to the bones of extinct ...

This paper critiques the emphasis placed on the economics of fishing in the northern Midlands of Ireland, where a number of Late Mesolithic finds and sites have been recorded at the point where the River Inny enters or exits the lakes connected to it. In the past, seasonality, site function and site classifications have dominated narratives on this region, and can be seen as an endemic part of Irish Mesolithic research at large. As a result, other socially grounded discourses have been overshadowed by a preoccupation with resources found in this area – in particular fish and chert – and the sustainability of this wetland environment for hunter-gatherer populations. This discussion reconsiders evidence of fishing during the Irish Mesolithic, by exploring various spatial and temporal patterns that can be discerned from previously recorded sites. By redirecting the emphasis from the consumption of fish onto the act of fishing, it aims to highlight the variety of ways a shift in analytical perspective can bring new and necessary insights into hunter-gatherer perceptions of time and place.

Flint tools are arguably the most numerous artefact type recovered from prehistoric sites in Britain and Ireland. Knowing which sources of flint were exploited for tool-making has the potential to change our perception of how prehistoric communities lived, moved, and traded goods within their landscape. Research undertaken by the Implement Petrology Group has revolutionised our understanding of how other lithologies were procured and transported through petrological and geological studies, however similar analyses of flint have been partial and sporadic. This may be due to the inherent difficulty in studying the structure of flint, or the over-reliance on qualitative, macroscopic methods of identification. These methods rely on visual characteristics of the flint, and have been used to ‘source’ flint to specific areas, e.g. movement of flint from the Yorkshire Wolds and Antrim coast into Scotland. The use of macroscopic characteristics is fraught with problems, and instead of enhancing our interpretations, can actually cause confusion. This paper will present the advantages of and disadvantages of the qualitative approach most commonly used in archaeological analysis of flint, before suggesting that the application of existing scientific methodologies can shift our attention from appreciation of colour, size, and texture, to more diagnostic differences. However, simply adding ‘science’ is not a silver bullet to the thorny issue of flint provenancing – can we strike a balance between the qualitative and the quantitative?