1. Pre-Christian Ireland

2. Stone Age 7,000BC – 2,000BC Bronze Age 2,000BC – 500BC
Categories
Stone Age 7,000BC – 2,000BC
Bronze Age 2,000BC – 500BC
Iron Age 500BC – 450AD

3. Mesolithic Period 7,000BC – 3,700BC Neolithic Period 3,700BC – 2,000BC
Stone Age
Mesolithic Period 7,000BC – 3,700BC
Neolithic Period 3,700BC – 2,000BC
Mesolithic period – first human settlers arrive in Ireland. Hunter Gatherers

4. Mesolithic = Middle Stone Age Neolithic = New Stone Age
Stone Age Vocabulary
Lith = Stone
Mesolithic = Middle Stone Age
Neolithic = New Stone Age
Megalithic = Big Stone

5. Artistic & Architectural Importance of the Period
Megalithic Monuments are the earliest examples of Irish art & architecture
Megalithic Monuments are from the Neolithic Period

6. The Neolithic Period
Lifestyles changed from hunter-gathering to settled communities with evidence of farming.
Highly organised and complex society.
Food producing methods such as harvesting of crops and breeding of animals spread across from mainland Europe

7. Portal Tombs or Dolmens Court Cairns Passage Tombs
Megalithic Monuments
Portal Tombs or Dolmens
Court Cairns
Passage Tombs

8. Dolmen is an old Brehon word meaning ‘stone table’
Portal Tomb/Dolmen
Dolmen is an old Brehon word meaning ‘stone table’

9. Poulnabrone, Co.Clare

10. Kilclooney, Co. Donegal

11. Brownes Hill, Co. Carlow

12. Form/Structure Three to seven upright stones.
One or two very heavy capstones which slope which slope downwards towards the back.
Tripod in design
A capstone is a top stone that acts as a roof

13. Dolmens are above ground burial chambers
Function
Dolmens are above ground burial chambers

14. Probably the earliest megalithic monuments built in Ireland
Court Cairns
Probably the earliest megalithic monuments built in Ireland
Most built in the north of Ireland

16. Layout

17. Creevykeel, Co. Sligo

19. Form/Structure
A semi-circular forecourt of upright stones leading to a gallery divided into separate chambers surrounded by an oval-shaped cairn or mound of stones

20. The Forecourt (or courtyard) had no roof but the gallery was covered.
A burial chamber was situated in the covered gallery
The gallery was divided into two or three chambers by protruding stones like doorjambs
A doorjamb is like the side pieces of a door frame. In this case doorjamb were large vertical slabs of stone

21. Function
Burial chambers
Ritual site