The Geography of Ireland part 2. Early History

Around the year 2500BC was when Ireland moved out of the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age. Bronze is an alloy which means it contains more than one element. The two elements it contains are copper and tin. This was a big breakthrough in Irish life because it had a stronger bond so it meant that every day things such as pans and weapons could be made out of bronze such as arrow heads. This meant that it would be more effective at killing animals. The Bronze Age was the start of something better to come.

In around the year 600BC, Ireland moved out of the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. The Iron Age was when thing were made out of iron. Iron is preferred to bronze because it is stronger than bronze. Iron is better for making weapons and  pottery. Throughout prehistoric Ireland, tombs were made to honour the dead, during this period, people tended to move away from building big tombs to honour the dead and instead they built a barrow or a cairn. These traditions carried on also into the next version of Irish history.

The Geography of Ireland part 1, early history

For those of you who do not know, Ireland is a small country on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Republic of Ireland has a population of just over four and a half million people. People first came to Ireland around 8,000 years ago. The people who came here were hunter-gatherers and according to Wikipedia ' a hunter-gatherer is a nomadic society where food is obtained through animals and plants' this society doesn’t have any agriculture and they eat whatever they can find.

The people who came to Ireland 8000 years ago were in the Mesolithic period and they came after the ice sheet that used to cover Ireland had melted. The tools and weapons that they used were spears and arrows which were made from small pieces of stone. They also used to eat berries, fish, nuts and wild boar.

About 4000 years later, the Neolithic period came along. The main difference here is that instead of people going out and looking for food, they herded animals such as cattle, goats and sheep. Agriculture was another big difference, many people built houses and they farmed in fields divided by stone wall, an example would be the Céide Fields in Co. Mayo. They farmed things such as wheat and barley also.

Introduction

Hello my name is Conor and i am going to be doing my blog on the geography of Ireland