Stone Age (7000BC-2500BC) Flashcards

1
Q

Date of Stone Age

A

7000bc-2500bc

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2
Q

3 Stages of Stone Age

A
  • Early Stone Age
  • Middle Stone Age
  • New Stone Age
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3
Q

Mesolithic Period definition and date

A

Middle Stone Age (7000-3700BC)

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4
Q

Mesolithic Period

A
  • First human settlers lived by hunting & gathering
  • Settled mostly near riverbanks & lakes
  • Early housing consisted of animal skins spread over a bowl-shaped timber frame
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5
Q

Neolithic period

A

New Stone Age

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6
Q

Megalithic

A

Large stone monuments

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7
Q

Portal Dolmen

A

Megalithic monument based off a tripod, eg. Poulnabrone Co. Clare

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8
Q

Lithos

A

Large stone

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9
Q

Court Cairn

A

Megalithic monument made up of upright stones divided into different chambers. Eg. Creevykeel, Co. Sligo

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10
Q

Megas

A

Big

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11
Q

Neolithic Period - Developments

A
  1. Time of great change
  2. Development of farming
  3. Harvesting of cereal crops (wheat and barley)
  4. Breeding of animals into fields
  5. Land was cleared of trees and divided
  6. Tools - stone axes made to chop trees
  7. Contact with lands overseas
  8. Highly organised people, can be seen from house plans, stone tools, pottery fragments, stone tombs
  9. Housing more permanent with dwellings of circular + rectangular shapes
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12
Q

Technology during Neolithic Period (tools and weapons)

A
  • Wood + stone only materials available
  • Some hard stones could used as knives, scrapers, chisels, axes, spearheads, arrowheads
  • Axes for felling trees + chopping wood were made by tying carefully shaped + polished stone axe heads onto wooden handles
  • Wood used to make tools for digging + ploughing + some vessels
  • Large stones for buildings/structures moved by dragging & levering + possibly using logs as rollers to ease progress of largest stones
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13
Q

Megalithic Monuments (huge stone monuments) Function

A
  • Resting places for the dead
  • Lasting monuments to ancestors
  • Perhaps symbols of power
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14
Q

3 types of megalithic tombs

A
  • Portal dolmens
  • Court cairn
  • Passage grave
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15
Q

Passage tombs

A
  • On elevated ground
  • Often found in groups
  • Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth - Boyne Valley
  • Narrow passage to central burial chamber
  • Upright slabs of rock + roof by horizontal slabs
  • Corbelled sone roof
  • Covered by circular mound of earth + small stones
  • Surrounded by large slabs (kerbstones)
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16
Q

Brú na Bóinne : Boyne Valley Culture

A
  • Neolithic Boyne Valley culture
  • On bend of River Boyne
  • Neolithic farming population
  • Forty passage tombs
  • Largest collection of megalithic art in western Europe
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17
Q

Newgrange Passage Grave topics

A
  1. Construction - when
  2. Location
  3. Structure
  4. Construction techniques
  5. Materials used
  6. Function
  7. Decoration
  8. Stone Carving Techniques
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18
Q

Functions of passage tombs

A
  • Hold remains of important people
  • Astronomically align with sun for solstices / equinoxes
  • Enact sun worship
  • Hold pagan rituals relating to belief in an afterlife or a ‘cult of the dead’
  • Indicate tribal territories
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19
Q

Meaning of motifs

A
  • Unclear
  • Probably represent solar + lunar cycles
  • Possible religious meaning
  • Possible form of writing
  • May represent human faces
20
Q

Locations of decorations at Newgrange

A
  • Entrance stone
  • Kerbstone 52
  • Lintel above the roofbox
  • Corbelled stones in roof of chamber
  • Standing stone in chamber of Newgrange
21
Q

Essay structure

A

1 - Introduction
2 - Discussion of artefacts with headings
3 - Reference to statement
4 - Conclusion

22
Q

Newgrange Passage Tomb - Stone Carving Techniques

A

1 - Dressing Stone
2 - Incision
3 - Picking (chipcarving)

23
Q

Dressing stone

A

Surface was hammered to take out rough bits, filed smooth with rough stone

24
Q

Incision

A

Shallow linear designs scratched + scraped onto stone

25
Q

Picking (chipcarving)

A

Pointed flint/quartz stone to chip out motifs so they stood out in low relief

26
Q

Newgrange - construction

A

3000-2500 BC

27
Q

Newgrange Structure

A
  • Consists of passage + burial chamber covered by earthen mound
  • mound - 11m high, 80m in diameter
  • Passage 19m long
  • 21 upright stones line passage on right, 22 on left
  • Horizontal slabs form roof of passage
  • Burial chamber is cross-shaped
  • 5.5m in diameter
  • Three side chambers off central chamber
  • Stone basins contain ashes + bones of dead in side chambers
  • 97 kerbstones surround outer surface of passage grave
  • 12 large standing stones circle tomb
  • Special opening callwed roofbox above doorway
  • Purpose
28
Q

Roofbox purpose

A

Allows rising sun to travel up passage + illuminate burial chamber each year on Winter Solstice (21st Dec)

29
Q

Newgrange Location

A
  • Located Bru na Boinne, Co. Meath, area 4km long + 3km wide
  • Enclosed by bend in river Boye
  • 40 mounts in area, Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth being largest
30
Q

Newgrange - construction techniqes

A
  • Roof of chamber constructed using corbelling technique
  • large slabs overlap on top of each other in layers
  • roof (6m high) sloped inwards like a dome + capstone sealed the top
  • Builders cut grooves into outer roof stones to channel rainwater away from chamber
31
Q

Newgrange - materials used

A
  • Stone slabs brought by boat from Co. Louth
  • Rolled onto logs+ pulled up earthen ramps
  • White quartz came from Co. Wicklow
  • Rounded granite from Cooley Peninsula
32
Q

Portal Dolman - Example

A

Poulnabrone, Co. Clare

33
Q

Portal Dolman - Form/structure

A
  • Design based on tripod
  • 2 large standing stones + lower back stone support large roof stone posititioned with heavier end above entrance
  • Single slabs rest against side + back stones, forming side chamber
34
Q

Portal Dolman - Function

A

Above ground burial chamber

35
Q

Court cairn - Examples

A

Creevykeel, Co. Sligo

36
Q

Court cairn - Form/structure

A

Semi-circular forecourt of upright stones leading to gallery divided into separate chambers surrounded by oval shaped cairn (mound of stones)

37
Q

Court cairn - Function

A

Gallery possibly used to serve as tomb & court to accommodate some kind of ritual

38
Q

Newgrange topics

A
construction
structure
purpose location
construction techniques
materials used
39
Q

Portal dolman topics

A

Example,
form/structure,
function

40
Q

Court cairn topics

A

example,
form/structure,
function

41
Q

Decorated Mace Head - Form

A
  • Made of flint
  • Circular shaft hole for wooden handle carved through the stone
  • Has likeness of human head, with shaft hole representing mouth, two-line spiral representing eyes
42
Q

Decorated Mace Head - Decoration

A
  • Incised decorative carving.

- Motifs used: single spirals, lozenges, C-shaped twin spiral

43
Q

Decorated Mace Head - Function

A

Never intended for use as weapon, rather as ceremonial object

44
Q

Decorated Mace Head - Location

A

Knowth, Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath

45
Q

Example of a stone age artefact

A

Decorated Mace Head

46
Q

Name of people

A

Neolithic people

47
Q

Designs

A

Freehand forms