Settlement in the Irish Neolithic: New discoveries at the edge of EuropeThe Irish Neolithic has been dominated by the study of megalithic tombs, but the defining element of Irish settlement evidence is the rectangular timber Early Neolithic house, the numbers of which have more than quadrupled in the last ten years. The substantial Early Neolithic timber house was a short-lived architectural phenomenon of as little as 90 years, perhaps like short-lived Early Neolithic long barrows and causewayed enclosures. This book explores the wealth of evidence for settlement and houses throughout the Irish Neolithic, in relation to Britain and continental Europe. More importantly it incorporates the wealth of new, and often unpublished, evidence from developer-led archaeological excavations and large grey-literature resources. The settlement evidence scattered across the landscape, and found as a result of developer-funded work, provides the social context for the more famous stone monuments that have traditionally shaped our views of the Neolithic in Ireland. It provides the first comprehensive review of the Neolithic settlement of Ireland, which enables a more holistic and meaningful understanding of the Irish Neolithic. |
Contents
1 | |
The house and society | 11 |
The Irish Early Neolithic house | 21 |
The role of the Early Neolithic house | 51 |
Beyond the house horizon | 71 |
Settling the island activity and place | 97 |
Other editions - View all
Settlement in the Irish Neolithic: New discoveries at the edge of Europe Jessica Smyth Limited preview - 2014 |
Settlement in the Irish Neolithic: New discoveries at the edge of Europe Jessica Smyth Limited preview - 2014 |
Settlement in the Irish Neolithic: New Discoveries at the Edge of Europe Jessica Smyth No preview available - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
Antrim appear architecture arrowhead artefacts assemblage associated Ballygalley Ballyglass Ballyharry Ballynagilly Boyne Britain Bronze Age burning burnt bone cairn causewayed enclosures charcoal charred Cloghers clusters construction Coolfore Cooney Corbally court tomb cremated deposits ditch domestic Donegore Dublin Durrington Walls Early Neolithic houses entrance Eogan example Figure fill flakes flint foundation trench Fourknocks fourth millennium BC Grogan Grooved Ware groups hearths Ireland Irish Early Neolithic Irish Neolithic island Knocknarea Knowth Lambay landscape large number Late Neolithic layers lithic located Lough Gur Louth material Meath megalithic monuments Middle Neolithic Monanny mound Neolithic activity Neolithic pits Neolithic settlement Newgrange number of sites occupation passage tomb patterns planks portal tombs post-holes posts pottery prehistoric radiocarbon recovered rectangular remains ritual scrapers settlement evidence sherds significant similar slot trenches society stake-holes stone structures study area suggested Tankardstown South timber circles timber houses Townleyhall Tullahedy uncovered Waterson