Ancient Ireland History
The prehistory of ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence which has grown at an increasing rate over the last decades. The first irish people lived by farming fishing and gathering food such as plants and shellfish.
It s believed the first settlers may have come from scotland arriving on the north east coast of ireland.
Ancient ireland history. The mesolithic period dates from 8000bc 4500bc and was when the first people arrived in ireland. It begins with the first evidence of humans in ireland around 10 500 bc and finishes with the start of the historical record around 400 ad. Dress and costume capes hoods garments kilts tartans etc from a smaller social history of ancient ireland by p.
Ireland as atlantis ancient egyptian and greek clues read part one here scientists used to work on the assumption that ireland was completely frozen over during the ice age and therefore uninhabitable until around 10 000 years ago. The celts first arrived in ireland about 500 bc there is no reliable information on how or when the celts became the dominant irish ethnic group. A short history of ireland.
The mythological origins history of ireland was written long after by christian scribes drawing on biblical stories to create a national history. Back in the neolithic age the people of ireland might have been far too busy establishing farms and villages and making a living to worry about their past history or perhaps not. The prehistoric period covers the palaeolithic mesolithic neolithic bronze age and iron age societies of ireland.
As the civilization grew in around 3500 bc into an agricultural society the level of sophistication and culture began to take shape. History of ancient ireland. It is thought that the celts arrived gradually spreading slowly across the country a process that could have taken several hundred years.
The first humans arrived in ireland between 7 000 and 6 000 bc after the end of the last ice age. The receding of the ice after the younger dryas cold phase of the quaternary around 9700 bc heralds the beginning of prehistoric ireland which includes the archaeological periods known as the mesolithic the neolithic from about 4000 bc the copper and bronze age from about 2300 bc and iron age beginning about 600 bc. Both of these dates are later than for much of europe and all of the near east.
Monuments to the importance of this passage still stand today. Much of the ancient ireland society placed an important value on funeral rights and passage of the spirit to the next life.
