Ireland’s earliest burial site

Recently, analysis of an axe over 9,000 years old, found at Ireland’s earliest burial site, in Co Limerick, has provided an insight into the ancient burial practises of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The highly-polished stone axe, known as an adze, was made especially for the funeral of a very important person, whose remains were cremated and then buried at the site. The axe, believed to be the earliest fully polished adze in Europe, was only used for a short time, and then intentionally blunted.

9,000 year old polished axe
Hermitage, Co. Limerick

The burial site on the banks of the River Shannon at Hermitage, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, dates to between 7,530 and 7,320 BC. The site was discovered 15 years ago, and contained burial pits holding the remains of individuals who had been cremated. The grave appeared to have been marked by an upright post.

Archaeologists believe that this object was probably specially made for the burial and was used as part of the funerary rights, possibly to cut the wood for the pyre for the cremation, or to cut the tree used as the grave post marker.

Drawing showing Hermitage polished axe in position next
to wooden post marking grave

More evidence of life during the Mesolithic Period is gradually becoming known with around twenty important sites identified around Ireland. Mount Sandel, near Coleraine, Co. Derry, is the oldest Mesolithic site in Ireland and dates from about 8000 BC. However, the recent announcement that scientists had dated a fragment of butchered bear bone from a cave in Co. Clare to 10,500 BC, may push back the date for human occupation in Ireland by 2,500 years.  Archaeologists discovered the remains of two individuals in Killuragh Cave, Co. Limerick and these were dated to 7,200-6,500. The early Mesolithic in Ireland runs from 7000 to 5500 BC, and the later Mesolithic from 5500 to 4000 BC.

Lough Gara - Co. Sligo

Closer to home, the survey of Lough Gara by Christina Fredengren (2002) and a radiocarbon-dating programme carried out between 1995-2000, together with the artefacts, have shown that this lake was heavily used during the Mesolithic Period.  One of the posts found in this lake produced a radiocarbon date of 4230–3970 BC, indicating activity in the latest phases of the Mesolithic. A piece of brushwood from the same area was dated to the early Mesolithic, showing that there was human activity on the lake around 7330-7050 BC (Fredengren, 2002).

Mesolithic material has been recovered from other nearby lakes such as: Lough Allen, Co. Leitrim, and Urlaur, Co. Mayo. These two lakes are connected to Lough Gara via the river system

The Lough Gara collection of stone axes is the largest Mesolithic assemblage in the West of Ireland. Killian Driscoll (2014) points out that evidence for the Mesolithic Period in the West of Ireland has gone largely unrecognised. In areas such as Lough Gara and Lough Allan, the extent of the evidence has been overlooked.

Image of House
Mesolithic Period

The discovery of this very early axe offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the complex funerary rituals taking place on the banks of the Shannon over 9,000 years ago. Burials of the early Mesolithic period are extremely rare, with only a few examples in Britain, mainly from caves.

The Hermitage cremations reveal that ritual played an important part in life and death in the early Mesolithic period. It is now clear that the production of polished stone axes was also highly evolved by this time. The strategic location of Hermitage on the bank of the Shannon provided many important benefits for these early settlers. For example, they may have controlled a fording-point on the river which would have been a strategic trading location as well as a diverse catchment area for food. It also gave assess to the interior of the country by means of Ireland's longest river.

Tracy Collins and Frank Coyne (2003) Early Mesolithic Cremations at Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. Archaeology Ireland, Vol 17, No.2 (Summer,2003).
Driscoll, K., Menuge, J., and O'Keeffe, E. (2014). New materials, traditional practices: a Mesolithic silicified dolomite toolkit from Lough Allen, Ireland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 114C pp. 1-34.
Christina Fredengren (2002) Crannogs: A study of people's interaction with lakes, with particular reference to Lough Gara in the north-west of Ireland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R__epPjk710

Lough Gara and Ireland's Mesolithic Period

Lough Gara Lake

Archaeologists can tell us a great deal about the Irish Neolithic period or New Stone Age and subsequent times such as the Bronze and Iron Ages as well as medieval times. There is evidence of the past all around us in the form of cairns, portal tombs, boulder burials, standing stones, crannogs and, of course, the ubiquitous ring forts. Much less, however, is known about the Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age. What was life like for those early settlers living around Lough Gara and similar lakes in the West of Ireland?

It has been suggested that these early people moved from the sea to the lakes and inland in a seasonal cycle. The winters were spent hunting wild pig in the forests, while in the spring people moved to the sea to collect oysters. At the beginning of summer they followed the fish like salmon and eel upriver.

The land which now comprises the island of Ireland came about following the collision of two continents about 430 million years ago. The formation of Ireland in its present shape only occurred 12,000 – 10,000 years ago. There is some evidence that animals such as bear, woolly mammoth, red deer, giant Irish deer, horse, and wolf roamed Ireland around 40,000 to 20,000 years ago. The remains of mammoths have been discovered near Crumlin, Co. Antrim that date from over 40,000 years ago. The next 7,000 years (18,000 -11,000 BC) was probably the height of the glacial period (Mallory, 2013).

By 12,000 BC the climate in Ireland had become increasingly warmer and the ice sheets were melting. These conditions allowed the gradual spread of trees and other plants northwards into Britain and Ireland. Because of the lack of large areas of grasslands, mammals and other animals became extinct. By 8000 BC Ireland was separated from Britain. This helps to explain why Ireland has a poorer range of native plants and animals and appears to have been settled by people much later.

Mallory points out that there is no evidence that people settled in Ireland earlier than 10,000 years ago. The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age lasted for about 4,000 years and is divided into two periods: Earlier Mesolithic c 8,000 – 6,500 BC and Later Mesolithic 6,500 – 4,000 BC.

Flint Implements

More evidence of life during the Mesolithic Period is gradually coming to light with around twenty important sites identified around Ireland.  Early Mesolithic communities are characterised by the use of flint cores, flakes, and ground and polished axes. The Later Mesolithic Period saw a shift to the use of larger stone implements and the continued use of stone axes.

Mount Sandel, near Coleraine, Co. Derry, is the oldest Mesolithic site in Ireland and dates from about 8000 BC. Archaeologists discovered traces of a series of huts that had been re-built from one occupation to the next. These early houses had been built using bent rods or poles and measured six metres in diameter with a hearth located in the centre.

Building a Replica Mesolithic Hut - Mount Sandel

Recently, archaeologists discovered the remains of two individuals in Killuragh Cave, Co. Limerick. Bones from this site have been dated to c 7,200 – 6,500 BC. At Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, the cremated remains of a complete adult were found, accompanied by a polished stone axe and two microliths or small flint blades. The grave appeared to have been marked by an upright post. This burial was dated to c 7,550 – 7,300 BC. 

The survey of Lough Gara by Christina Fredengren and a radiocarbon-dating programme, together with the artefacts, have shown that this lake was heavily used during the Mesolithic Period.  One of the posts found in this lake produced a radiocarbon date of 4230–3970 BC, indicating activity in the latest phases of the Mesolithic. A piece of brushwood from the same area was dated to the early Mesolithic, showing that there was human activity on the lake around 7330-7050 BC (Fredengren, 2002).

Where did the first Irish settlers come from? Scholars believe that the most likely ‘homelands’ of the earliest human colonists in Ireland are Scotland, Isle of Man and Wales.

Lough Gara

Most Mesolithic artefacts have been found in or near water, just as at Lough Gara. Mesolithic material has been recovered from other nearby lakes such as: Lough Allen, Co. Leitrim, and Urlaur, Co. Mayo. These two lakes are connected to Lough Gara via the river system.

The Lough Gara collection of stone axes is the largest Mesolithic assemblage in the West of Ireland. It is likely that the waters, and especially the running waters of the river, were seen as places where depositions of suitable objects could be made.

Killian Driscoll (2014) points out that evidence for the Mesolithic Period in the West of Ireland has gone largely unrecognised. In areas such as Lough Gara and Lough Allan, the extent of the evidence has been overlooked. Where lakes have been drained, much evidence can be found, but this creates a bias against areas away from the shores as well as from lake where no drainage has taken place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YXXdqCAn38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O22LMgS4V4

Christina Fredengren (2002) Crannogs: A study of people's interaction with lakes, with particular reference to Lough Gara in the north-west of Ireland
J.P.Mallory (2013) The Origins of the Irish

Driscoll, K., Menuge, J., and O'Keeffe, E. (2014). New materials, traditional practices: a Mesolithic silicified dolomite toolkit from Lough Allen, Ireland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 114C pp. 1-34.