Page 7 - IRISH HISTOEY - CHAPT 1_Neat
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A Bare Bones History of Ireland                      Chap 1



                          Read More:                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKvq6VLe4s
                                Carbon Dating
                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQdXjRPHmQ
                                DNA Analysis


                  The Stone Age (4000 BC – 2500 BC)


                     The Stone Age is the first of the three-age system of archaeology, which divides human
                     technological prehistory into three periods: the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.

                     The Stone Age began about 2.6 million years ago, when researchers found the earliest
                     evidence of humans using stone tools, and lasted until about 3,300 B.C. when the Bronze
                     Age began. It is typically broken into three distinct periods: the Paleolithic Period,
                     Mesolithic Period and Neolithic Period.

                       Watch:                 https://youtu.be/SaHGpOoBt0k


                       Read:                  https://www.stoneagetools.co.uk/welcome-to-the-stone-age.htm


                     The Stone Age in Ireland  (Circa  3200 BC)
                        Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic)
                        monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath,
                        it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient
                        East. Newgrange was constructed about 5,200
                        years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older
                        than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of
                        Giza. Newgrange is a large circular mound 85m
                        (279ft) in diameter and 13m (43ft) high with a
                        19m (63ft) stone passageway and chambers         Newgrange Stone Age Passage Tomb
                        inside. The mound is ringed by 97 large
                        kerbstones, some of which are engraved with symbols called megalithic art.

                  The Bronze Age (2500 BC to 500BC)

                     Ireland was blessed with relatively rich copper deposits, allowing large quantities of
                     bronze to be produced on the island. However, the copper-rich areas did not necessarily
                     coincide with areas that had been important sources of material in the Neolithic era. Thus,
                     the focal points in Ireland moved to regions that in some cases had been relatively devoid
                     of previous activity, for example western Munster.
                     At Mount Gabriel, Co. Cork, lies one of the few
                     Bronze Age mines known anywhere in Europe - other
                     than Austria. Dating from between 1500BC and
                     1200BC, it consists of 25 shallow mine shafts
                     extending about 5 to 10 metres into the slope. Evidence
                     from inside the mines indicates that the copper ore was
                     probably extracted by lighting fires inside the mine and
                     then, when the mine walls had become hot, water was
                     splashed onto them, thus shattering the ore which could   Mount Gabriel, Schull, Co. Cork
                     then be removed. Counties Cork and Kerry, on the
                     south-west tip of the island, produced the bulk of Ireland's copper and it has been
                     estimated that together the counties produced 370 tonnes of copper during this era.



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