Chapter 2 Early Ireland Flashcards
When did the first settlers arrive in Ireland?
The first settlers arrived in Ireland about 9000 years ago.
How do we know about Mesolithic people?
We know a lot about Mesolithic people from evidence found by archaeologists at Mount Sandel, Coleraine, Co. Derry.
What was flint used for during the Mesolithic period?
Big pieces of flint were used for spears and axe heads for hunting and fishing. Small pieces were used as knives and scrapers.
What is the Mesolithic Period
The Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age is a period when hunter-gatherers used simple stone tools.
How did Mesolithic people make their homes?
They discovered a circle of post holes and evidence that fires were lit in the Centre of the circle. Branches would have been bent to make the shape of a dome. Animal skins would then be put up to cover the branches
What is a hunter-gatherer?
A hunter-gatherer is when a man gets food by hunting animals and women by gathering nuts and berries.
How do we know that Mesolithic people ate a variety of different foods?
We know that the Mesolithic people ate a variety of different food because archaeologists have found hazelnut shells, Bones of deer and wild pig and fish shells and fish bones at Mount Sandel.
What were the main changes between Mesolithic and Neolithic?
By the Neolithic period:
Trees were cut down
Crops were planted
People raised animals
What stone were Neolithic tools made of?
Porcellanite
Why were peoples houses of better quality in the Neolithic period than in the Mesolithic period?
Many Neolithic people were farmers so they no longer had to move around all the time.
What method did Neolithic people make they’re houses out of?
Wattle and Daub
What did farmers from Britain bring to Ireland?
Farmers brought seeds,plants and livestock from Britain.
At what time did people begin to farm in Ireland?
Around 4000BC
What sights can Neolithic settlements be found at?
Lough Gur Co. Limerick and Céide fields
Explain Wattle and daub?
Branches were weaved in and out of planks like a huge basket. Then Mud and straw was plastered over the woven walls to cover up cracks.
Why were Neolithic people able to make better clothes than Mesolithic people?
Neolithic people had wool from sheep available to use
Dyes were made from berries and wild plants
Neolithic people wore jewellery.
What did Neolithic people use to make pottery and what did they make?
Neolithic people make pottery out of clay and used clay pots to store food and for cooking.
What evidence is there that people started taking ownership of plots of land in the Neolithic period?
Stone walls were built to make fences around fields and protect the livestock. Some of these walls have been found in the Céide Fields and are still standing.
What was a quern stone used for?
A queen stone was used to grind flour and make bread.
What did Neolithic people believe happened to their dead?
Neolithic people believed that the spirit left the body and moved on in an afterlife.
How many Megalithic tombs are in Ireland and when were they built?
They’re are over 2000 Megalithic tombs in Ireland and were built over 5000 years ago.
Name the types of Megalithic tombs?
Court Cairns,Dolmens and Passage tombs.
What is in a court cairn?
A court cairn is made of upright stones covered over with earth.
Inside the Court Cairn there is a passage leading to the center chamber. Pottery bowels containing cremated (burnt) human remains.
What is a Dolmen?
A Dolmens are made of two or three large upright stones with another very large stone called a capstone lying on top.
What is a capstone?
A large flat stone on top of a dolmen.
How much do some capstones way?
100 tonnes
Name an example of a Dolmen?
The Pulnabrone Dolmen in the Burren Co. Clare
What is a passage tomb?
A passage tomb is like a court cairn only much bigger
From the outside they look like a hill or mound of Earth. Inside there is a long PASSAGE leading to an inner chamber.
How many passage Tombs are in Ireland? Name One?
There are over 200 passage tombs in Ireland one of which is Newgrange Co. Meath.
When did the Stone Age end and the Bronze Age Start?
Around 2500BCE
When did the Bronze Age come to Ireland?
The Bronze Age came to Ireland around 2000BCE.
Who were the Beaker people?
The Beaker people made a new type of pottery and are the first people who have been found to use metal in Ireland.
What did the Beaker people add to Copper to make Bronze?
Tin
How did the beaker people make Bronze?
Fires were lit beside the rocks containing copper
When the rock got hot cold water was thrown on it this exposed the rock and cracked it.
They used stone hammers to break out the copper
The copper was placed in a big fire to melt the copper to liquid
Then the copper was mixed with tin and poured into bowls to make tools and weapons.
Name an example of a place at which copper mines have been found?
At Mount Gabriel in Co.Cork their is evidence of extensive copper mining.
What was the process of separating the copper from the rock called?
Smelting
What were the people who made the tools and weapons called?
Smiths.
What was the process of pouring the liquid metal into mounds called?
Casting.
Why have archaeologists found tools and weapons in large numbers under the ground? Name an example of a hoard.
Smiths buried their tools for safekeeping that is why loads of bronze axes, knives and tools have been found in large numbers (hoards) under the ground. The most famous of these is the Broighter Hoard in Co. Derry.
Name two items of Bronze Age jewellery?
Lunulae and Torcs
Where may have Bronze Age people found the gold for jewellery?
In the Wicklow and Sperrin Mountains. Though rather than mining they would have collected gold from streams.
How was the Broighter Hoard found?
A farmer stumbled across it while ploughing his field
What animals did the Bronze Age people use that people before them didn’t?
Horses
How did Bronze Age people cook?
They dug a pit near a river, beside the pit they lit a fire and heated stones were placed in the fire. They filled the pit with river water and placed the heated stones in it boiling the water. They then wrapped joints of meat in straw and placed them into the water to cook.
This was called Fulacht Fiadh
Why was there no longer a need for a fire in the center of a hut in the Bronze Age?
They no longer cooked indoors as they would cook outside near the river with the fulacht fiadh method.
What is a Cist tomb?
A cost is a pit in the ground, lined with stone slabs. Some Cist tombs contained cremated remains or bodies buried in crouched positions.
What is a Wedge tomb?
Wedge tombs were built with large, flat stones. The front of the tomb is wider and higher than the back, like a wedge.
What are stone circles?
Stone circles dating from the Bronze Age are made of tall upright stones arranged in circles or rows. They are all built to line up with the movements of the sun. They may have had some religious meaning or perhaps were used as calenders.
When did the Iron Age begin?
The Iron Age began around 1400BCE
When did the Iron Age begin in Ireland?
When the Celts arrived in Ireland around 500BCE
How do we know about the celts?
From Archaeological evidence found in Europe
Ancient Greek and Roman Writers
Early Christian Monks in Ireland
Name two famous Celtic settlements in Europe?
La tène in Switzerland and Hallstatt in Austria around 700BCE to 500BCE
What is la tène art?
Art decorated with spirals,circles and curved patterns.
What did the Ancient Greeks and Romans call the celts?
The Greeks called the Celts Keltoi and the Romans called them Gauls.
How did Plato describe the celts?
Plato wrote that the Celts were a warlike people who drank too much.
What were the Celtic laws called?
Brehon Laws
Name a traditional Celtic story?
Táin bó Cuailgne the hero in which is cú chulainn
Who were the derbhfine?
The derbhfine were the royal family which the rí belonged to.
What was the rí’s job?
To lead and defend his tuath
Explain Tuath.
The land and people ruled by the king (rí)
Who were the warriors?
The warriors main role was to defend the tuath. The warriors were the nobles and they owned the cattle and land.
Who were the aos dána?
The aos dána were the learned people. They were judges, Filí, Druids, Bards, Craftspeople and Doctors.
Who were the farmers?
Farmers were the biggest group in the tuath. They rented land from the warriors, grew crops and looked after the animals.
Who were the slaves?
The lowest class in Celtic society were the slaves who were usually prisoners captured in wars. They were owned but There masters and had to work for free.
How were women treated?
Under Breton law Women could own property and many women became rí’s E.g. Queen Maebb of Connacht.
Name four Celtic settlements?
- Raths (sometimes called ringforts or cashels)
- Crannógs
- Hillforts
- Promontory Forts
What was a rath?
Raths were enclosed by circular ditch’s or mounds of earth.
The fort itself was usually built of timber but if wood was scarce stone was used.
Name a place you may find a raths in Ireland?
Deer park in Co. Antrim
How many raths have been found in Ireland?
Over 40000
Where does the name crannóg come from?
The Irish word crann
What were crannógs?
Crannógs were man made islands in lakes. Stones mud and twigs were put into the lake to make a mound higher then the water level. Then a wooden fence would be put around the island for protection and to hold the crannóg together.
How many crannógs are there in Ireland.
Over 1200
What were hillforts?
Hillforts were like raths only built on a hill and much bigger. The old Celtic legends tell us that the hillforts were the headquarters of the rí. (Celtic King.)
What were promontory forts?
Promontory forts were built on clifftops. The inner closure has a rectangular platform like an alter facing out to sea.
Archaeologists believe that these sights were used only for religious purposes.
What animals did the Celts keep and how did they preserve them?
The Celts kept cattle,sheep and pigs. They preserved their food with salt.
How did they cook their food?
They cooked meat on a spit or in a cauldron over an open fire.
What was Celtic wealth measured in?
Cattle.
What was used to ground wheat into flour by the Celts?
A rotary Quern stone
What was a common punishment in Celtic society?
Fines of Cattle.
Under Brehon Law how thick did a road have to be?
The width of two cows.
What did rich Celtic people wear?
Rich men wore a léine tied at the waist with a crois. Men and Women both wore jewellery and make-up.
What did the Celts wear in Winter?
Woolen cloaks (called brats).
What did poor Celtic people wear?
Poor men wore wool trousers and women wore a long plain wool tunic.
Name four Celtic Gods or Goddesses?
An Dagda (The chief God)
Lugh (God of War)
Brigid (Main Goddesses)
Boann (River Goddesses)
Where did the Celts worship?
In Forests or beside Rivers
How did the Celts Bury their dead?
The Celts cremated (burnt) their dead and buried the ashes in the ground.
What are Ogham stones?
Ogham stones are Upright standing stones on Celtic tombs that have a form of writing on them called Ogham. The lines are thought by archaeologists to spell the name of the person buried in the grave. Ogham is the earliest form of writing in Ireland.
What was the main activity of the Celtic Monks?
Prayer
What did the monks in the scriptorium write on?
Vellum (calf skin)and parchment (sheep skin). They also practiced on wax tablets.
What did the scribes use to write?
Quills or reeds.
What was used to make ink?
The Ink was made using minerals plants and leaves.
Other than praying what activities did many monks do?
They farmed,cooked and made great crafts and works of art to honor god.
Give three examples of famous Books written by scribes?
The Cathach of St. Columba The oldest ever Irish manuscript The Book of Durrow The oldest decorated Irish manuscript The Book of Kells A copy of the four gospels
What was a monastery?
A place where people who had devoted their lives to God lived.
Name two Celtic Monasteries?
Inis Mór, sceilig Mhichíl, Clonmacnoise and St. Brigid are all examples
Name the buildings of the monastery/area?
The Church The round tower The scriptorium The Refectory The Cells The Graveyard
What was the intricate gold wiring done by the monks called?
Filigree
Name three examples of monastery metalwork?
The Ardagh chalice,The Tara Brooch and the Cross of Cong
What were the crosses used for?
To teach people about Christianity.
Name a famous stone cross made by the monks?
St Muireadach’s Cross in Monasterboice
What happened in the Golden Age?
Irish monks went abroad to found monasteries and spread Christianity. St Colmcille set up a monastery in Iona,Scotland.
How did the Golden Age End?
Raiders from Scandinavia called Vikings began arriving in search of treasures. Many Monasteries were attacked this ended the Golden Age and began the Dark Ages.
