Caulfield has suggested that the special climate of the west could have allowed cattle to be grazed there virtually all year round. This might seem like a special situation, but Neolithic field walls have now been found in other parts of the island, including Kerry, so we must ask how much of the forested landscape had these farmers altered? Could Ireland's populations by 2,500 B.C. have reached 50-100,000?

There is no doubt that Ireland's Neolithic, with its monuments and field walls, was a surprising period, but the richness of the island's prehistoric culture continues on into the Bronze Age. Initially this period seems to lack the wealth of the archaeology of the Stone Age but a closer look would suggest otherwise. It used to be thought that metalworking was brought to Ireland by the same people who brought Beaker pottery about 2,500 B.C. However, there is no real need to imagine waves of beaker-bearing invaders to account for a relatively minor change. These new ideas have to be seen merely as additions to an already existing society.

For most of the Bronze Age, metal tools either replaced stone forms or existed side by side with them. In fact, in the first few hundred years, axes, daggers and halberds were virtually the only metal tools. Not a major change, yet the products of Irish mines and workshops were exported throughout the British Isles and beyond - Irish artefacts have been found in Scandinavia, France and even as far away as Poland.

Besides some stone circles and alignments, this period is not noted for its monuments. The dead were often buried in simple pits and stone boxes. Perhaps prestige had been shifted to possession of bronze and copper artefacts which were often not very functional. The potential wealth of the period is, of course, illustrated by the numerous gold objects from the beginnings of the Bronze Age, a sign, perhaps, of the exploitation of native gold - but how much more significant if that gold was imported.

As a result of these relatively minor changes at the beginning of the Bronze Age, Ireland seems to have developed an amazingly complex and rich society some time after 1,000 B.C. This is reflected in technological advances, quantities of implements produced and the beginnings of a more organised society.

Click here for part 7, or here to go to the start of the article.

From the Appletree Press title: The People of Ireland (currently out of print).
Also see A Little History of Ireland.