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Flints, Farmers and Forts: Ireland in Prehistory

GAP2041

Lecture 5

Neolithic Settlement

Early Neolithic domestic structures and settlement

Mobile or sedentary?

Duration?

Seasonality?

Proportion of the population?

Persistent places?

Ideological sedentism?

Bradley 2007

Ireland comes the closest to accepted definition of the Neolithic

period: changes in settlement, material culture, crops

Houses: distributed widely & associated with crops, domesticated

animals

Field systems (Cide Fields)

Mortuary monuments

In Wessex situation less clear: mobility still important, wild

resources continue in use, less cereals; domestic buildings very

few (but changing scenario); dominated by buildings for the

dead (Thomas, 1988)

S. English model explicitly based on analogy with Scandinavia

Based on concepts of social complexity in Mesolithic & small use of

domesticates: but limited evidence this model works for Britain and

Ireland (see Rowley-Conwy 2004)

Houses and settlement

Neolithic narratives often concerned with the dead

rather than the living

> 80 rectangular houses discovered due to Celtic Tiger

building boom

Change over course of Neolithic: evolution of forms

Houses signal new engagement with wider landscape

Dwelling perspective (cf. Ingold): living spaces reflects

peoples position within environment (e.g. proximity to

rivers, natural landforms, etc).

Domestic space & routine activities: ritualised over time

Interconnection between domestic & ritual (e.g. Bradley

2005)

Early Neolithic Houses

Rectangular or

apsidal

Single or

multiple

80 houses,

c. 50 sites

6-12 m long, 4-8 m

wide

Constructed using

split oak planks &

posts, post and wattle,

or combination

Probably supported

large & heavy roofs

Setting for domestic

activity

Family or kin group (c.

12 people)

LBK Longhouse

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Linear,

Space divided

Smyth 2010

Reconstruction of early Neolithic house at

Cloghers, Co. Kerry John Murphy

Selection of Irish early Neolithic houses - plans

Corbally, House 5 photo John Sunderland

Reconstruction

Ballygalley House 1

Cia McConway in

Simpson (1996)

Reconstruction Barnagore

house, Co. Cork

Reconstruction Kishoge house ,

Co. Dublin Simon Dick

Distribution of Irish

Neolithic settlements

Cooney et al. 2011

Early examples

Ballyglass, Co. Mayo

Ballynagilly, Co. Tyrone

(burnt remains beneath

blanket bog)

Widespread woodland

clearance evident in pollen

diagram from bog nearby

Ballynagilly, Co. Tyrone.

Dates on charcoal: 4750-4350 cal BC; 3950-3620 cal BC)

6.5 m in length, c. 6 m in width

Side walls: oak planks, vertically set into foundation trenches; post holes at the

end may indicate end walls (? panels of wickerwork or wattle & daub); roof

supporters in the middle; heath and burnt clay ?oven. Finds: flint flakes,

fragments of polished stone axes; pottery (Lyles Hill ware)

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Ballynagilly, Co. Tyrone

Charcoal outlier model in OxCal 4.1.7 places use firmly within the

house horizon (albeit with long early tail at 95% confidence)

Hazelnut shells

(ApSimon 1969; 1976)

Bronk Ramsey 2009

Tankardstown, Co. Limerick

Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd

Tankardstown, Co. Limerick

15 x 8m/7 x 6m

Square house (1) built entirely of

oaks planks

Burnt animal bone in foundation

trench

House destroyed by fire

Western Neo pottery

Arrowhead (lozenge)

Cereals (emmer wheat), hazel,

wild apple

Cattle, sheep/goat, pig

Corbally, Co. Kildare: 6 houses contemporary?

Smyth 2010

Corbally

internally divided, several

hearths.

Largest structure: 11x7.7 m

Wheat, barley, hazelnuts,

pottery, flints, stone axes,

saddle quern recovered

The house horizon

after McSparron 2008

Start: 3715 3650 BC

End: 3690 3625 BC

Span: 65 years or less

Based on 18 dates from

7 sites

How robust?

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Sites

Irish court tombs

(n = 36)

Start: 3715-3550 BC

(Schulting et al. 2012)

Irish house horizon

(n = 108)

Start: 3715-3675 BC

24 x 12 m (exterior)

Balbridie, NE Scotland,

Early Neolithic longhouse

3960-3500 cal BC

Arrangement of space

Floor deposits scarce

Lough Gur (site A) & Granny, Co. Kilkenny, rare examples

Certain parts of building differentiated

sleeping areas, other activity areas, concentration of artefacts around

doors ways

Configuration of space almost certainly had a role in

maintaining social relations

Doors: east & south-east common, others e.g. Enagh &

Thornhill doors towards Foyle River

Some imposing structures (e.g. Corbally) statement of

identity?

Mudstone axe, surrounded by

ring of pottery sherds in

foundation trench - probably

foundation deposit,

from trench of house at Corbally,

Co. Kildare Tobin 2003

Burnt/broken porcellanite and flint

axes from slot trench of house at

Ballintaggart, Co. Down photo S.

Large

Foundation deposits (Smyth 2010)

Often size and arrangement of

foundation deposit distinguishes it

from random material Smyth 2010

Often associated

with entrance/front

portion of house

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Smyth 2010

Porcellanite axe

blade found in situ

immediately over post

hole of annex wall

slot

Associated with

entrances

Abandonment deposits? Burnt oak post, Monanny, Co. Monaghan photo: F. Walsh

Burnt planks, Monanny, Co. Monaghan photo: F. Walsh

Burnt planks, Ballynagilly, Co. Tyrone

photo: J. Pilcher

Large portion of houses

destroyed by fire: lack of

superimposition dissolution

of household?

Middle-Late Neolithic Houses

Spreads of occupation material, pits and occasional hearths

Irish Neolithic House Size

Lough Gur, Co. Limerick

3 small round houses

Stone foundations

? Turf-filled walls

Knocknarea Mountain, Co. Sligo

Small circular buildings

beneath summit 5

excavated

Oval ditch around site to

create a bank, wooden

stakes inserted

Possibly incorporated

turf: sod layers used in

passage tombs in Boyne

Valley; but poor survival

in archaeological record

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n = 37

n = 108 Rectangular houses

(108 dates from 25 houses

from 16 sites)

Pit complexes

(37 dates from 10 sites)

Start

Rectangular houses

(108 dates from 25 houses

from 16 sites)

Pit complexes

(37 dates from 10 sites)

End

Tullahedy, Co. Tipperary

(Cleary and Kelleher 2011)

palisade

Rectangular

structures

pits

Traditional Irish landscape?

Dispersed settlement (1 - 3 households)

Thornhill: palisaded

enclosure (early Neolithic)

Logue 2003

Causewayed enclosures

The Trundle

Carn Brea

Coombe Hill Briar Hill Orsett Camp

Robin Hoods Ball Whitehawk Camp

Dated to 3800-3400 cal BC

Enclosure sites (Britain,

Ireland), rare in north

Defined by interrupted

ditches

Continuum of enclosed

settlements to hillforts

and ceremonial centres

Some have buildings,

pits, etc., others are

almost empty: ceremonial

centres or settlements?

Opinion has oscillated

Windmill Hill

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Distribution of known and

probable causewayed enclosures

70 certain and probable

examples of Early/Middle

Neolithic causewayed or

hilltop enclosures in

Britain and Ireland

3 (1 of which is possible

only) in Ireland

2 (1 possible) in Wales

1 on Isle of Man

3 possible examples in

Scotland

Irish

causewayed enclosures

Cooney et al. 2011

settlements / defended settlements

cattle enclosures

meeting places/fairgrounds

high status settlements

ceremonial sites

places for exposure of the dead

Suggested function/s Double ditch system, interrupted; palisade slot on inside of inner ditch

Internal banks

Donegore Hill

Many stake-holes but no certain houses

Several 100 postholes, pits, hearths1,500 Neolithic vessels

(carinated, plain) (45,000 sherds); porcellanite axeheads (from

Tievebulliagh, Rathlin), lithics (23,849 pieces); hazelnuts, cereals,

chaff & weeds; no unburnt bone

Donegore population: settlement evidence Area of possible settlement = 9,000 m2

Theoretical c. 200 m2 per structure and empty

space = 45 possible structures

45 x 5 = 225 maximum

Area of probable settlement =4,000 m2

Theoretical 20 structures

20 x 5 = 100

11 rectangular houses found in the vicinity

Considerable labour input (18,000 labour hrs)

considerable number of people

Assemblage different to house sites

(considerably larger)

People using Donegore & houses probably

connected through social ties, reflected via

exchange networks: role in a trading network?

(e.g. Ballygalley circulation of lithics across

Irish Sea Zone with Arran pitchstone

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Began: 3855-3665 cal BC; Ends: 3590-3430 cal BC (95%

probability): 200-455 years span (Cooney et al. 2011) Magheraboy causewayed enclosure

Palisade

Magheraboy, Co. Sligo

Lowland setting

c. 190m N-S

single ditch (interrupted) +

palisade

interior: shallow pits with carinated

bowl, arrowheads, axes, etc; also

porcellanite

sheep, wheat

Bayesian modeling

Start

Model A:40403850 cal BC

Model B: 3965-3780 cal BC **

Model C 4320-3775 cal BC

Cooney et al., 2011, 582

Whittle et al. 2011

Bibliography

Bradley, R. 2005 Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe. Routledge, London.

Bradley, R. 2007 The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland. Routledge, London. (Chapter

2)

Cooney, G. 2000 Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London: Routledge. (Chapter 3)

Cooney et al. 2011 Ireland. In: Whittle, A.; Healey, F. and Bayliss, A. Gathering Time;

dating the early Neolithic enclosures of southern Britain and Ireland. Oxbow Books,

Oxford, pp. 562-669.

Grogan, E. 2002 Neolithic houses in Ireland: a broader perspective. Antiquity 76,

517525.

Logue, P. 2003 Excavations at Thornhill, Co. Londonderry. In I. Armit, E. Murphy, E.

Nelis and D. Simpson (eds), Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain.

Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 149155.

Smyth, J. 2006 The role of the house in Early Neolithic Ireland European Journal of

Archaeology 9, 229257.

Smyth, J. 2010 The house and group identity in the Irish Neolithic. Proceeding of the

Royal Irish Academy 111C, 131.

Waddell, J. 2010 The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland. Wordwell, Dublin (Chapter

2).

Whittle, A., Healey, F. & Bayliss, A. 2011 Gathering Time; dating the early Neolithic

enclosures of southern Britain and Ireland. Oxbow Books, Oxford. (Chapters 14-15).

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