Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
At the height of the Neolithic the population of the island was probably in excess of 100,000 and perhaps as high as 200,000. But there appears to have been an economic collapse around 2500 BC, and the population declined for a while. By this time the, metallurgy was already established in the country.
The Poulnabrone Dolmen in County Clare, Ireland
Bronze age ( 2500 - 700 bce )
The Bronze age properly began once copper was alloyed with tin to produce true Bronze artifacts, and this took place around 2000 BC, when some Ballybeg flat axes and associated metalwork was produced. The period preceding this, in which Lough Ravel and most Ballybeg axes were produced which is known as the Copper Age or Chalcolithic, commenced about 2500 BC. Bronze was used for the manufacture of both weapons and tools. Swords, axes, daggers, hatchets, halberds, awls, drinking utensils and horn shaped trumpets are just some of the items that have been unearthed at Bronze Age sites. Irish craftsmen became particularly noted for the horn-shaped trumpet, which was made by the ' cire perdue ' or lost wax, process. These are found in many places throughout Europe. Copper used in the manufacture of bronze was mined in Ireland, chiefly in the southwest of the country, while the tin was imported from Cornwall in Britain. The earliest known copper mnes in Ireland were located at Ross Island, at the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry; mining and metal working took place there between 2400 and 1800 BC. Another of Europe's best-preserved copper mines has been discovered at Mount Gabriel in County Cork, which was worked for several centuries in the middle of the second millenium. Mines in Cork and Kerry are believed to have produced as much as 370 tonnes of copper during the Bronze Age. As only about 0.2% of this can be accounted for in excavated bronze artifacts, it is surmised that Ireland was a major exporter of copper during this period.
Ireland is also richin native gold, and the Bronze age saw the first extensive working of this percious metal by Irish craftsmen. More Bronze Age gold hoards have been discovered in Ireland than anywhere else in Europe. Irish gold ornaments have been found far afield as Germany and Scandinavia. In the early stages og the Bronze Age these ornaments consisted of rather simple crescents and disks of thin gold sheet. Later the familiar Irish torue made its appearance; this was a collar consisting of a bar or ribbon of metal twisted into a screw and then bent into a loop. Gold earrings, sun disks and lunulas ( crescent moon disks worn around the neck ) were also made in Ireland during the Bronze Age. One of the most distinctive types of European pottery, Beaker or Bell - beaker ware, made its appearance in this country during the Bronze Age. This was quite different from the finely made - round bottomed pottery of the Neolithic. Beaker was once thought to be associated with a particular culture - the Beaker Folk - whose arrival there supposedly coincided with the intrroduction of metallurgy. But this view is no longer tenable: there were no Beaker Folk, and metallurgy was well established in Ireland long before the the appearance of Beaker Ware. Irish Beaker Ware was of local manufacture and its appearance is evidence of foreign influence rather than foreign invasion. Smaller wedge tombs continued to be built throughout the Bronze Age, but the grandiose passage graves of the Neolithic were abandoned for good. Towards the end of the Bronze Age the single-grave cist made its appearance. This consisted of a small rectangular stone chest, covered with a stone slab and buried a short distance below the surface. Numerous stone circles were also erected at this time, chiefly in Ulster and Munster.
Ireland is also richin native gold, and the Bronze age saw the first extensive working of this percious metal by Irish craftsmen. More Bronze Age gold hoards have been discovered in Ireland than anywhere else in Europe. Irish gold ornaments have been found far afield as Germany and Scandinavia. In the early stages og the Bronze Age these ornaments consisted of rather simple crescents and disks of thin gold sheet. Later the familiar Irish torue made its appearance; this was a collar consisting of a bar or ribbon of metal twisted into a screw and then bent into a loop. Gold earrings, sun disks and lunulas ( crescent moon disks worn around the neck ) were also made in Ireland during the Bronze Age. One of the most distinctive types of European pottery, Beaker or Bell - beaker ware, made its appearance in this country during the Bronze Age. This was quite different from the finely made - round bottomed pottery of the Neolithic. Beaker was once thought to be associated with a particular culture - the Beaker Folk - whose arrival there supposedly coincided with the intrroduction of metallurgy. But this view is no longer tenable: there were no Beaker Folk, and metallurgy was well established in Ireland long before the the appearance of Beaker Ware. Irish Beaker Ware was of local manufacture and its appearance is evidence of foreign influence rather than foreign invasion. Smaller wedge tombs continued to be built throughout the Bronze Age, but the grandiose passage graves of the Neolithic were abandoned for good. Towards the end of the Bronze Age the single-grave cist made its appearance. This consisted of a small rectangular stone chest, covered with a stone slab and buried a short distance below the surface. Numerous stone circles were also erected at this time, chiefly in Ulster and Munster.
the iron age ( 700 - 100 bce ) and the arrival of the celts
As the Bronze Age in Ireland drew to a close, there appeared in Ireland a new cultural influence. developing in the Alps of central Europe, the Celts spread their culture across modern-day Germany and France and into the Balkans as far as Turkey. They arrived in Britain and Ireland around 500 BC and within a few hundred years, Ireland's Bronze Age culture had all but disappeared, and Celtic culture was in place across the entire island. The
Celts called Britain and Ireland the ' Pretanic Islands ' which evolved into the modern word " Britain " The word
" Celt " comes from the Greeks, who called the tribes to their north the " Keltoi " but there is no evidence that the Celts ever referred to themselves by that name. To the south a small upstart republic, with its capital at Rome, was minding its own business. However it was these Romans who a few centuries later would supercede Celtic culture across most of Europe when they built their huge Roman Empire, which stretched from Palestine to England. The Celts had one major advantage - they had discovered Iron. Iron had been introduced to the Celtic peoples in Europe around 1000 to 700 BC, thus giving them the technological edge to spread as they did. Iron was a far superior metal to bronze, being stronger and more durable. On the other hand, it required much hotter fires to extract it from ore and so it took a fair degree of skill to use iron. None of this is to be taken to mean that bronze fell out of use. Rather, iron simply became an alternative metal and many bronze objects have been found that were made in the iron age. The Celts were very skilled in the few arts of the time. Whether or not the arrival of the Celts in Ireland was an actual invasion, or a more gradual assimilation, is an open question and still open to debate. On the one hand the Celts, who were by no means pacifists must have arrived in sufficiently large numbers to obliterate the existing culture in Ireland within a few hundred years. On the other hand, other better documented invasions of Ireland, such as the Viking invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries AD - failed to have the effect of changing the culture on the island wide scale. Current academic opinion favours the theory that the Celts arrived in Ireland over the course of several centuries, begining in the late Bronze Age with Celts of the early Iron-
using Hallstatt group of people, to be followed after 300 BC by the Celts of the la Tene cultural group which formed with the Hallstatt group.
Some have postulated that, as the Romans invaded and took control of the continental Celtic territories of Gaul
( France ) and Iberia ( Spain and Portugal ) some of the displaced Celts travelled to unconquered Celt lands such as Britain and Ireland. The medieval " Book of invasions " talks about Milesians and Fir Bolg arriving in Ireland. These have been identified with displaced Celts from Spain and Belgium.
Celts called Britain and Ireland the ' Pretanic Islands ' which evolved into the modern word " Britain " The word
" Celt " comes from the Greeks, who called the tribes to their north the " Keltoi " but there is no evidence that the Celts ever referred to themselves by that name. To the south a small upstart republic, with its capital at Rome, was minding its own business. However it was these Romans who a few centuries later would supercede Celtic culture across most of Europe when they built their huge Roman Empire, which stretched from Palestine to England. The Celts had one major advantage - they had discovered Iron. Iron had been introduced to the Celtic peoples in Europe around 1000 to 700 BC, thus giving them the technological edge to spread as they did. Iron was a far superior metal to bronze, being stronger and more durable. On the other hand, it required much hotter fires to extract it from ore and so it took a fair degree of skill to use iron. None of this is to be taken to mean that bronze fell out of use. Rather, iron simply became an alternative metal and many bronze objects have been found that were made in the iron age. The Celts were very skilled in the few arts of the time. Whether or not the arrival of the Celts in Ireland was an actual invasion, or a more gradual assimilation, is an open question and still open to debate. On the one hand the Celts, who were by no means pacifists must have arrived in sufficiently large numbers to obliterate the existing culture in Ireland within a few hundred years. On the other hand, other better documented invasions of Ireland, such as the Viking invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries AD - failed to have the effect of changing the culture on the island wide scale. Current academic opinion favours the theory that the Celts arrived in Ireland over the course of several centuries, begining in the late Bronze Age with Celts of the early Iron-
using Hallstatt group of people, to be followed after 300 BC by the Celts of the la Tene cultural group which formed with the Hallstatt group.
Some have postulated that, as the Romans invaded and took control of the continental Celtic territories of Gaul
( France ) and Iberia ( Spain and Portugal ) some of the displaced Celts travelled to unconquered Celt lands such as Britain and Ireland. The medieval " Book of invasions " talks about Milesians and Fir Bolg arriving in Ireland. These have been identified with displaced Celts from Spain and Belgium.
early accounts
The earliest pseudo-historical information that we have about Iron Age Celtic Ireland is from Carthaginian. Roman and Greek writers, who probably got their information from sailors who had been to the British Isles. There are writings from the 4th century AD by the Roman ' Avienus ' which are thought to be based on accounts from early an early Greek voyage in the 6th century BC. These describe Celts in France and in the North Sea, where the British Isles are. He calls Ireland ' Insula Sacra ' ( Holy Island ) and its inhabitants ' gens hiernorum ' thought to be a Latinisation of the Greek word for Ireland, ' Ierne. ' This in all likelihood, is a modification of the word ' Eriu '
which may be an original Celtic word for Ireland and a root of the later Irish word Eire and eventually the English word Ireland. The Greek ' Pytheas ' refers to the British Isles as the ' Pretanic ' Islands, which is derived from Priteni - definately a Celtic word. In 52 BC, the Romans were referring to Ireland as Hibernia, possibly extracted again from the Greek word ' Ierne. '
By far the most interesting historical account of these early times is that of the Greek ' Ptolemy ' His map of Ireland, was compiled in the second century AD, but based on an account from around 100 AD. No surviving originals exist, but a copy dating from 1490 AD is in existance. Historians have been able to use this fascinating map to identify some of the celtic tribes living in Ireland at the time. Many of the names cannot be identified with known tribes ( particularly those in the west ) and the names have been badly corrupted by being passed word-of-mouth. However, others are readily identifiable. Also on the map are the names of rivers and islands which can be identified with existing features. All of this information has allowed historians to create a picture of the probable Celtic tribes living in Ireland at the time ( 100 AD )
which may be an original Celtic word for Ireland and a root of the later Irish word Eire and eventually the English word Ireland. The Greek ' Pytheas ' refers to the British Isles as the ' Pretanic ' Islands, which is derived from Priteni - definately a Celtic word. In 52 BC, the Romans were referring to Ireland as Hibernia, possibly extracted again from the Greek word ' Ierne. '
By far the most interesting historical account of these early times is that of the Greek ' Ptolemy ' His map of Ireland, was compiled in the second century AD, but based on an account from around 100 AD. No surviving originals exist, but a copy dating from 1490 AD is in existance. Historians have been able to use this fascinating map to identify some of the celtic tribes living in Ireland at the time. Many of the names cannot be identified with known tribes ( particularly those in the west ) and the names have been badly corrupted by being passed word-of-mouth. However, others are readily identifiable. Also on the map are the names of rivers and islands which can be identified with existing features. All of this information has allowed historians to create a picture of the probable Celtic tribes living in Ireland at the time ( 100 AD )
