Chapter 1 - Pre Christian Ireland

Question 1

When did human settlement begin in ireland?

Answer 1

10,500BC

Question 2

Neolithic

Answer 2

New stone age (3700 - 2000BC) in Ireland. Time when farming and tool making evolved. People began to settle in permanent settlements

Question 3

Megalithic

Answer 3

Large stone monuments and tombs

Question 4

Dolmen

Answer 4

Simplest megalithic structure. Construction of between 3 and 7 stone legs supporting one or two large capstones. E.g, at Poulnabrone, Burren, Co. Clare

Question 5

Court cairn

Answer 5

Combination of burial chambers inside a mound or cairn of stones with an open court in front of it

Question 6

Passage grave/mound

Answer 6

Made by building a stone lined passage, sometimes with a burial chamber at the end, and covering it with a mound of earth and stones

Question 7

What passage graves are found at Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath?

Answer 7

Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange

Question 8

Basin stone

Answer 8

Large, almost circular, low profile stone hollowed out to create a kind of basin. Seem to have been used in passages to hold cremated remains of the dead and small offerings

Question 9

When does Newgrange roughly date back to?

Answer 9

c.3200BC

Question 10

What are the walls of Newgrange made from?

Answer 10

White quartz stones (Wicklow, 80km away) Grey, water-worn granite (Dundalk Bay, 50km away)

Question 11

Kerbstones

Answer 11

Large stones laid end to end surrounding the base of many passage tombs. They may have been used to define the shape of the mound and retain the filling material that formed the mound

Question 12

How many kerbstones are there at Newgrange?

Answer 12

97 kerbstones

Question 13

Corbelled vaults

Answer 13

Built on the standing stones of the chamber in gradually decreasing circles of large flat stones, sloping slightly inwards. These rings of stones became self-supporting as the circles became smaller until the dome could finally be closed by a single stone

Question 14

Stone dressing

Answer 14

A stone chisel or a point driven by a hammer was used to remove rough areas of the stone and take away a thin layer of stone and improve its colour.

Question 15

How were the lines and patterns created on stones in pre-christian ireland?

Answer 15

Cutting into the stone with sharp flint or obsidian edge or by picking with a stone chisel and hammer

Question 16

When was the bronze age in Ireland?

Answer 16

2500-500BC

Question 17

How was Bronze Age design different to Stone Age?

Answer 17

Stone age art was drawn freehand, whereas Bronze age was created with a compass and straight edge

Question 18

How did tomb design change in the bronze age?

Answer 18

There were pits instead of dramatic burial sites

Question 19

What is bronze?

Answer 19

An alloy of copper and tin. It is stronger than copper and can hold a sharp edge for longer.

Question 20

How was copper obtained in the bronze age?

Answer 20

Copper was mined in Ireland by roasting ore-bearing rock with fire and cracking it by throwing cold water over it. The bits with the most copper oxide were smelted over a charcoal fire and poured into a stone or sand mould.

Question 21

How was tin obtained in the bronze age?

Answer 21

Tin was imported from Cornwall in England

Question 22

How was gold obtained in the bronze age?

Answer 22

Gold was found in nuggets or by panning alluvial deposits in rivers → a mix of sand, gravel and gold particles are dug up from the riverbed and washed with water, leaving the heavier parts, the gold, in the pan

Question 23

How were early Bronze Age pieces decorated?

Answer 23

With simple abstract geometric patterns of circles, triangles, dots and straight lines

Question 24

What is this object?

Answer 24

Tedavet Sun Disk

• c.2000BC
• Cut from a thin sheet of beaten gold
• Repousse
• Repeating pattern of ridges, chevrons and dots

Question 25

Repousse

Answer 25

Gold sheet laid face down on a firm surface. A pattern is created on the surface using tracers (chisel-like tools). The gold is turned face up to reveal the design projecting from the surface.

Question 26

Lunala

Answer 26

Gold hammered into a thin sheet and cut into a cresent moon shape. Frequently decorated with incised lines. Worn as a neck collar; possible status symbol

Question 27

Torcs

Answer 27

Made by twisting round, square or triangular sectioned rods of gold into a spiral shape

Question 28

What is this object?

Answer 28

The Clones Fibula

• Late Bronze age
• Kilogram of solid gold
• Decorated with irregular rows of concentric cirlcles with a little hollow at each centre
• Three ridges surround the outer edge
• Area where the bow joins the disk decorarted with incised triangles and chevrons

Question 29

Fibula

Answer 29

Gold bow or handle with flat cup-shaped disks at each end

Question 30

Gorget

Answer 30

A u-shaped gold collar with a gold disk attached at each end

Question 31

What is this object?

Answer 31

The Gleninsheen Gorget

• Found in Ballyvaughan, Burren, Co. Clare
• Worn at neck, high status symbol
• Outer and inner edge finished with a strip of gold to create smooth finish
• Disks made of two layers → Edge of larger wrapped around edge of smaller to create more finished edge
• Disks connected to collar with gold wire stiching or with a hinge like arrangement
• Decorated with repousse and incision