a)
Primary: - These include: -
a.
Artefacts: - Things discovered by archaeologists such as coins, pots, jewellery,
food remains, human remains, graves, tools, remains of walls etc.
b.
Written sources: - Official documents such as census (population counts), diaries (e.g.
Ptolemy’s diary about events in ancient Rome e.g. The destruction of Pompeii),
biographies of people who lived at the time, newspapers and pamphlets,
photographs, drawings and writings on monuments (e.g. hieroglyphs on the
pyramids), literature, songs (ballads) and poetry of the time.
c.
Photographic Sources: -Photos and newsreel film from the time (e.g. W W 2
film footage of D Day in Normandy). Cave drawings (e.g. La Tain).
d.
Paintings etc.: - such as those of the Greek
and Roman Sculptors, The Renaissance artists (Da Vinci etc.) etc.
e.
Oral Sources: - The stories of prople who lived
at the time.
a.
History books etc. written by people who have investigated the primary
sources and interpreted them for us. (N.B. Bias and Propaganda may occur in
these sources e.g. A. Hitler’s Mein Kampf).
b.
Films ‘based’ on true stories (e.g. Schindler’s List, Michael Collins
etc.).
N.B.
Bias, or the presentation of only one side of the story and propaganda,
or the use of the story for political ends need to be watched for in especially
when reading form secondary sources. (e.g. An IRA man’s account of Bloody
Sunday and a British Government’s account of the same events will differ.).
Archaeologists
are the people who look for information from the past, especially the
prehistoric (time before writing) past.
Archaeologists
discover sites lived in by ancient people ( e.g. Troy, the Pyramids (Howard Carter),
The Celtic sites, Newgrange etc.).
To
find sites they use: -
a)
Myths
and legends.
b)
Accidental
discoveries by local people (e.g. farmers ploughing land).
c)
Aerial
Photographs, which often show detail invisible at ground level .
d)
Geophysical
surveys which show what is below the ground.
a)
Diggers
(J.C.Bs),
b)
Brushes
of all sizes,
c)
Shovels
d)
Trowels
e)
Plaster
of paris moulds. Etc.
a)
Stratigraphy: - Using the layers of soil and debris over the find to date the find.
b)
Carbon 14 Dating: - Using the fact that living things (including plants) lose carbon at
a steady rate allows them to date the artefacts they find.
c)
Denocronology: - Using the number and size of the growth rings in a piece of timber
to date the timber object.
d)
Pollen: - Which is part of plants (seeds) is also useful for Carbon 14 dating.
The
modern calender which uses B.C and A.D. was invented in the 6th.
Century by a monk called ‘Little Denis’.
He
called the year of Christ’s Birth the year 1; so that all time before that date
was called B.C. (before Christ) and all dates after it were called A.D. (Year
of the Lord or Anno Domini).
THE STONE AGE.
STONE AGE IRELAND.
Mesolithic
peoples
probably came to Ireland either by canoes made of hollowed out logs (dugout
canoes) or by land bridge at the end of the ice age, when Ireland was still
joined to Great Britain.
They
lived in skin or straw covered shelters which looked like Indian tepees and had
rough wooden
Posts
as supports.
Fires
were lit in the shelters, but the only chimney was a hole in the roof.
Bones
etc. found at these sited show that they ate deer, wild pig (boar), dogs, fish,
wild grains, apples and nuts.
They
were HUNTER GATHERERS.
Their
kitchen waste heaps are called Middens.
Pieces of waste bones shells etc. are found in Middens.
Tools:
- Sharp
pieces of flint were used as spearheads, arrowheads, axes etc.
They
used bones as needles for sewing etc.
They lived on the RIVER BANKS because the rivers allowed them to travel
easily (Ireland was covered in huge forests of Oak etc. at the time) and
supplied them with water and fish for food.
These
differed from the Mesolithic Hunter Gatherers because they were FARMERS.
They
came to Ireland by sea and settled in the MAYO –SLIGO at first but later
arrivals settled in other parts of the country.
One
of the first settlements was at The Ceide Fields, Co. Mayo. The stone walles field system here was
discovered buried under a blanket bog.
They
had domesticated animals (sheep, cows etc.) and they grew wheat and oats.
The
best examples of Neolithic houses ate found at Lough Gur in Co.
Limerick.
Their
houses had stone foundations with walls made of sods and wattles
(Sticks).
Roofs
were made of thatch. The fire
was in the centre of the houses and there was no chimney.
They made and used clay pottery for
storage and cooking.
They used animal skins and made woollen
cloth for clothing.
They used polished stone axes and even had axe
factories such as that in Tievebulliagh, Co. Antrim.
They traded with places as far away as
Scotland, England and Wales
These
people built Megaliths as graves for their dead.
The earliest type of megalithic tomb. These had long
narrow chambers which were covered with cairns (heaps) of stones.
The dead were probably cremated.
Smaller thain the court cairns, they consist of 3
upright stones with a large ‘cap’ stone on top. The cremated remains
of the dead were buried under the cap stone.
Originally the whole lot would then
have been covered by a mound of small stones.
These were the biggest of all the Neolithic
graves.
They consist of a stone walled
passage leading a corbelled roofed chamber.
The entire structure was then covered with a mound
of stones.
Many people would have been buried in
the chamber.
In Newgrange the passage and chamber are arranged so
thet the rising sun on the shortest day of the year shines directly on the back
wall of the chamber. This shows that the Neolithic people were good Astronomers
and Engineers.
The Bronze Age.
Bronze is made by melting and mixing copper
and tin.
The early bronze age prople, THE BEAKER PEOPLE,
came to Ireland from Cornwall, in South West England and settled in places
where they could get copper such as Mount Gabriel, in West Cork and in Wicklow.
They probably got their tin from Cornwall.
They made weapons and jewellery from the bronze.
Bronze was very expensive and valueable at the time.
In Wicklow, they also used the locally found gold
to make ornaments (torcs etc).
The bronze age people probably built the great stone
forts such as Dun Aengus on the
Aran Islands.
Unlike the Neolithic people the Bronze Age people did not cremate their dead.
They buiried
the dead in WEDGE TOMBS and CIST GRAVES.
The people of the bronze age built stone circles
such as that at Drombeg, West Cork.
The stone circles were aligned (positioned) to the
setting sun in Summer time.
Fulacht Fia:-
These were cooking places built by the bronze age people. They consisted of a pit (hole) full of water which was usually lined with timber or flat stones.
Cooking was done by firstly heating stones on a fire
and then placing the hot stones in the pit.
This boiled the water. Large
chunks of meat would be placed in the Fulacht Fia to cook.
Fulacht Fias were still used well into the Iron Age.
THE IRON AGE AND THE CELTS.
The
Celts were an Indo-European race.
The
Celts in Ireland probably originated from the part of Europe now occupied by Austria,
Czech Republic and South Germany.
Roman And Greeks both referred to the Celts as barbarians.
Julius
Caesar
fought his greatest campaign against the Celts of France (then called Gaul).
The
greatest Celtic archeological sites are to be found in Hallstatt and La
Tene, where graves have been found
with two wheeled chariots weapons and jewellery which featured highly complex
floral and spiral patterns similar to the decorative scripts found in the Book
of Kells.
The
Celts in Ireland:-
The Celts came to Ireland around 600 B.C.
They had iron weapons and quickly conquered the country from the earlier Bronze
Age peoples.
Celtic Society:-
The Celts were a pastoral people. They kept cattle and spent much of their time raiding other peoples cattle.
Society was organised into Clans (extended
families) which were ruled over by a Ri.
The Ri was elected from within the Derbfine
(family out to 2nd. Cousin of the previous Ri).
This caused a lot of fighting within the clan and
sometimes a Ri would name his successor or Tainiste to avoid this
fighting.
The Ri:-
· Lead his warriors in battle.
· Protected his Tuath
(territory) from attack.
· Rewarded his followers and
enforced the law of the Druids and Brehons.
These were the wise men (occasionally women) of the
Clan and would include Brehons (judges), Druids (priests), Fili
(poets / historians) and Doctors of the Clan.
Craftsmen also belonged to the Aos
Dana and goldsmiths, blacksmiths and carpenters were especially valued for
their various skills.
The Celts were a pastoral people. This means that they based their farming on
cattle.
Wealth
was measured in the number of cattle a man owned. Fines imposed by Brehons were paid in cattle. Wars were
fought over cattle, the most famous being that told of in the Tain. This
is the story of a cattle raid on Ulster carried out by Queen Maeve of Connaught
who wanted to own the famous Bull of Cooley.
Cuchullan was the great hero of this story.
The Celts used an infield and outfield system similar to that of the Middle Ages. Crops in the infield, cattle in the outfield. They grew wheat for bread and barley for beer etc.
The Celts did not live in towns but lived in family
settlements such as Crannogs (Lake dwellings) and Ring Forts.
Dun, Rath, Lios and Caiseal are all
words for forts and are still common in Irish place names such as Rathcormac.
Generally the Celts wore their hair long and wore
moustaches (not beards).
They were very careful about cleanliness and washed
daily.
They did not approve of obesity (fatness). Fat young
men were fined.
Men wore tight trousers and short tunics while women
wore a long loose gown.
Both wore large cloaks which also doubled as
blankets.
They loved brightly coloured clothe if they could
afford them (dyes were very expensive).
They also loved to wear lots of jewellery.
The Celts were very warlike. They fought eachother
as readily as they would fight an enemy such as the Romans or indeed the
Normans.
The swords they used were long
and designed for slashing rather than for stabbing. They tended to be quite soft and bent
easily.
In general they preferred to use spears
in battle because the swords were so poor.
They used chariots very effectively in
battle but were very disorganised and
tended to fight as individuals rather than as an army. This was their downfall against the Romans.
Celts collected the heads of their enemies.
Women were often warriors e.g. Boudicia of the
Britons.
The Celts of Europe usually buried their dead in
elaborate graves together with large amounts of Grave Goods. In Ireland they usually used Cist
grave and buried few objects with the dead.
Monuments:-
The Celts did not build Megaliths;
they built Monoliths,(Single Stones).
Many of these stones had complex
decorations while others had Ogham (Celtic writing) on them.
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