Pre-Christian Ireland
description
Transcript of Pre-Christian Ireland
Pre-Christian Ireland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FncwFd1RzQ
Categories
•Stone Age 7,000BC – 2,000BC•Bronze Age 2,000BC – 500BC• Iron Age 500BC – 450AD
Stone Age
•Mesolithic Period 7,000BC – 3,700BC•Neolithic Period 3,700BC – 2,000BC
Stone Age Vocabulary
• Lith = Stone•Mesolithic = Middle Stone
Age•Neolithic = New Stone Age•Megalithic = Big Stone
Artistic & Architectural Importance of the Period
•Megalithic Monuments are the earliest examples of Irish art & architecture•Megalithic Monuments are
from the Neolithic Period
The Neolithic Period
• Lifestyles changed from hunter-gathering to settled communities with evidence of farming.
• Highly organised and complex society.• Food producing methods such as
harvesting of crops and breeding of animals spread across from mainland Europe
Megalithic Monuments
•Portal Tombs or Dolmens•Court Cairns•Passage Tombs
Portal Tomb/Dolmen
•Dolmen is an old Brehon word meaning ‘stone table’
Poulnabrone, Co.Clare
Kilclooney, Co. Donegal
Brownes Hill, Co. Carlow
Form/Structure
• Three to seven upright stones. • One or two very heavy capstones
which slope which slope downwards towards the back.• Tripod in design• A capstone is a top stone that acts as a
roof
Function
•Dolmens are above ground burial chambers
Court Cairns
• Probably the earliest megalithic monuments built in Ireland•Most built in the north of
Ireland
Layout
Creevykeel, Co. Sligo
Form/Structure
• A semi-circular forecourt of upright stones leading to a gallery divided into separate chambers surrounded by an oval-shaped cairn or mound of stones
• The Forecourt (or courtyard) had no roof but the gallery was covered.
• A burial chamber was situated in the covered gallery
• The gallery was divided into two or three chambers by protruding stones like doorjambs
• A doorjamb is like the side pieces of a door frame. In this case doorjamb were large vertical slabs of stone
Function
•Burial chambers•Ritual site