JCH3 MM

JCH3 MM

1. Mesolithic Middle-stone age

   • Period: 8,000B.C – 3,500 B.C
     • Early settlers probably came here from Scotland or Wales in dugout canoes or small boats
       • Food
         • Housing/ Dwelling
           • Tools/Weapons
             • Clothes
               • Clothes were made from animal skins.
               • Ornaments/ Jewellery
                 • Burials
                   • Grave Goods
                     • Valuable items buried with a body
                   • Tombs were built ot honor the dead
                 • Made out of bones
               • Skins sewn together by a deer horn needle.
             • Flint
               • Stone Tools & weapons (flint), sharpened to make spears or knives.
               • To make fire
             • Period of time that all tools & Weapons made of stone
             • Microlith
               • Is a small stone tool usually made of flint to make a spear
           • Nomadic - Build Seasonal camps , moved from place to place
           • Trees were cut and bent into bee-hive shape. Tied at top.
           • In the centre of the room was the fire, no chimney (very unhealthy-smoky
           • Grasses, animal skins and branches were placed on top for warmth shelter.
         • Fires
           • cooking on hot stones
           • Meat on a spit
         • Hunter-Gatherers
           • Hunted wild animals for meat
           • Gathered Plant, Berries and Nuts
   • Important Source
     • Mount Sandel Co Derry

2. Neolithic New stone age

   • Period: 3,500B.C– 2,300 B.C
     • 1st Farmers - Beginning of farming, using domestic animals (Cows, pigs etc.)
       • Food
         • Housing/ Dwelling
           • Tools/Weapons
             • Improved tools and Weapons
               • Introduced arrow heads
             • Clothes
               • continued to wear animal skin
               • Ornaments/ Jewellery
                 • Burials
                   • Passage Graves
                     • They get their name from a long passageway, which leads from the entrance to the burial chamber. From the outside the passage tomb looks like a hill or circular mound of earth.
                       • The most famous passage tomb is at Newgrange, Co Meath
                         • Simple Artefacts remain
                         • Detain under standing of seasonal progress of the sun
                         • Stones brought from Wicklow
                   • Portal Dolmens
                     • Look like huge stone tables. Consists of three standing stones on which a capstone was placed. Some capstones weigh over 100 tonnes. The bodies were place under the dolmen
                       • Burren, Co Clare
                   • Court Cairn
                     • These burial chambers get their name from an open area or court at the entrance to the tomb. The tomb is made of upright stones covered over with earth and stones.
                       • Creevykeel, Co Sligo
                   • Neolithic people marked death by building large stone tombs known as megaliths. Mega = huge. Lithos = stone.
                 • Necklaces made from bone or wood were worn
                 • Pottery – bowls with simple patterns.
               • Discovered how to spin and weave cloth.
               • Also made clothes from wool from the sheep kept on their farms
               • Dyes were made from berries and plants.
               • Improved on cloth making
             • Made better stone tools than Mesolithic settlers.
             • Stone axes were used to cut down trees
             • Stone ploughs, stone axes, stone knives and stone scrapers. in Polished stone
             • Clay pots were moulded and put into fires to harden them.
             • Pottery is used for storing food and in burials.
           • Settled farming communities
           • In the centre of the room was the fire, no chimney (very unhealthy-smoky
           • People slept on beds of straw.
           • Built stronger houses. Houses were made from wood and were usually rectangular in shape.
           • Thick wooden posts were place at the corners
           • Walls were made by weaving branches in and out (wattle). A mixture of mud and straw was plastered on the wattle to keep out the rain (Daub).
           • The roof was made from straw.
         • Continued Hunting
         • Continued Gathering
         • Grew crops, wheat, oats and barley
         • Reared cattle, sheep, goats and pigs with them
         • Cleared the forest and fenced in their fields
       • probably from Britain
   • Important Source
     • The Ceide Fields Co Mayo
     • Lough Gur Co Limerick - Neolithic settlement
     • Boyne Valley Co Meath

3. Bronze Age

   • Period 2,300B.C - 500B.C
     • First use of metal.
       • Food
         • Housing/ Dwelling
           • Tools/Weapons
             • Smelting
               • Made objects, by melting it at high temperature to seperate
             • Clothes
               • Weave cloaks
               • Dresses
               • Ornaments/ Jewellery
                 • Burials
                   • Cist graves
                     • Much simpler and more common than other tombs. Stones were placed around the body with a large flat stone on top.
                   • Wedge Tombs
                     • Smaller version of Potal Dolmens. Vertical stones supporting a large flat stone at an angle. (Body placed inside).
                 • Pottery – bowls decorated with triangles and stars.
                 • Gold moon-shaped necklaces (Lunulae),
                 • Torcs and Dress fasteners were popular.
                 • Jewellery was also made from gold. Gold was found in Wicklow
             • Metal Ores used
               • Copper
               • Silver
               • Tin
               • Gold
             • Bronze tools replaced stone tools - Stronger and easier to shape
             • Mattock and wooden plough in light upland soil to grow wheat and barley.
             • The first swords were made
           • Same as Neolithic Period but they built walls around groups of houses for protection.
           • Hut where the farmers kept their animals
         • Querns
           • used for grinding corn into flour
         • Fulacht Fisdh
           • Stones would be heated inside the fire, then put in the water of Fulact Fisdh to rise the temperature enough to slow cook meat
           • cooking site/ meathod of cooking
         • Grain ground on a saddle-stone.
         • Continued Hunting
         • Continued Gathering
         • Reared Animals
         • Grew crops
     • New people came to Ireland and brought with them a very important invention
       • Smiths
         • Metal Workers
   • Bronze Age people were known as Beaker people because of the new style of pottery they made
   • Important Source
     • Beginning of copper mining
       • Mount Gabriel, County Cork.
       • Ross Island, Killarney

4. Iron Age/The Celts

   • Period 500 BC – 400AD
     • Came from Central Europe
     • They used Iron (Same strength as Bronze but Tin was very rare).
     • Food
       • Housing/ Dwelling
         • Hillforts
           • Promontory fort = Fort beside a cliff.
           • Up higher than Ringforts for more protection
           • stone walls instead of timber which had huge rocks in front of them.
         • Houses built in same way as Bronze Age.
         • Crannóg
           • In the middle of a lake
         • Tools/Weapons
           • Clothes
             • Ornaments/ Jewellery
               • Burials
                 • Cremated the dead
                 • Gods/ Festivals
                   • Celtic Society
                     • Derbhfine
                       • Royal Family - King selected
                     • Tuath
                       • Celtic society was divided into kingdoms & had its own King( rí).
                   • Believed in many Gods
                     • Dagda = God of Afterlife. (Tír na nÓg)
                   • Celebrated festivals
                     • Samhain (November) Imbolg (February) Bealtaine (May) Lughnassa (August)
                 • Ogham stones
                   • First writing in Ireland
               • Gold & Silver Jewellery
               • La Tene Style
                 • Curved Lines
                 • Fantasy Animals
                 • Florals
                 • Spiral
               • Necklaces and Brooches.
                 • Tara Brooch
               • Chariots
               • Lunala
                 • Neck ornament
             • Wore golden Torcs.
             • Rich Men = Knee length linen tunic (leine) Tied with a crois
             • Rich Women = Ankle- length linen tunic
             • Poor Women = Long, plain wool tunic
             • Woolen cloaks in Winter tied with gold brooch
             • Wore make up
             • Jewellery
           • Finnish mantle, combines cloth weaving, tablet weaving and coiled wire work.
           • Wide variety of weapons, includings swords, daggers, spears, slings, javelins, axes, bows and even their shield
           • Weapons used for striking at the front attack (similar to the Vikings shield)
         • Ringforts: (Rath/Lios)
           • Timber wall was placed around a raised circular bank, with a fosses (ditch) built around it.
           • Souterrains
             • (Underground tunnels) for storage and protection. Most common forts.
       • Dairy products. Wheat (bread), oats (porridge) and barley (ale).
       • Rotary quern. Spit and fulachta fiadh still used and also stone ovens.
       • Feasting important.
       • Wealth was decided on how much Cattle somebody had.
       • Held massive feats: Drank mead/beer and the best warrior get the best bit of meat (Hero's Portion). This caused great conflict
   • Important Source

5. Paleolithic Old Stone age

   • Ice melted, sea levels rose and Ireland was disconnected from England.
   • Nobody lived in Ireland. Ireland was covered in ice sheets
   • Period: 2.5 million years ago to 8,000 B.C

6. Ancient Ireland