Early Ireland An Introduction to Irish Prehistory [Paperback]

Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland offers an authoritative introduction to the riches of Irish prehistory.The development of Irish society is traced from its origins as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers through the technological and artistic advances of its golden age in second millennium B.C.The development of Irish society is traced from its origins as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers through the technological and artistic advances of its golden age in second millennium B.C.Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland, seeks to introduce the general reader to the riches of Irish prehistory--a span of eight thousand years from the end of the Ice Age to the first centuries of the Christian era. It provides a clear account of the development of Irish society from its beginnings as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers, through the glory of its golden age in the second millennium BC, to the technological advances stimulated by the discovery of iron and, in the last centuries BC, the development of a Celtic art style of unrivalled power and individuality.List of illustrations; Preface Glyn Daniel; Acknowledgements; 1. The Ice Age; 2. The Mesolithic period; 3. The Neolithic period; 4. The late Neolithic/Beaker period; 5. Megaliths; 6. Single burials and earthen and stone enclosures; 7. The Bronze Age; 8. Bronze Age burial; 9. Bronze Age settlement and stone monuments; 10. The Iron Age; 11. Later prehistoric settlement; 12. Iron Age burial; Appendix; Bibliography. ...this book represents all that was best in the previous generation of Irish archaeologists. Written by a man who was one of the foremost of that generation, it could not have been otherwise. American Journal of Archaeology ...a delightful and informative book which is aptly described by its title. Not least of the many positive aspects to this book is the author's clear and vigorous prose style which provides lucid descril3,