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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
J.P.Mallory (2013) The Origins of the Irish
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