Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic)

Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic)

1. Arrival

   • Came to Ireland by dugout canoes or in skin-covered boats from Britain
   • Came around 7000BC

2. Food and Family

   • They were hunter-gatherers
     • They hunted animals
     • They collected berries and nuts
     • They didn't farm
   • They cooked on spits
   • They were nomadic- when they ran out of food they moved

3. Work and Tools

   • Food
     • Hunting
       • Spears
       • Arrows
     • Fishing
       • Spear
       • Harpoon
   • Stone axes used for chopping down branches
   • Clothes
     • Stone scrapers used to clean animal skins
     • Skins were sewn together with bone needles

4. Mesolithic Sites

   • Exploration of sites tell us how people lived
   • Mount Sandel Co.Derry

5. Houses

   • Made of saplings set into the ground
   • With lighter branches woven across them
   • Branches tied with animal hide or gut
   • Hearth or fireplace in the centre of the hut