Early Ireland
An Introduction to Irish Prehistory

Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland offers an authoritative introduction to the riches of Irish prehistory.

Michael J. O'Kelly (Author)

9780521336871, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 April 1989

392 pages
24.7 x 17.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.78 kg

'It is a fluently written and comprehensive account of the development of Irish culture and society until the last centuries BC that will gladden students and general readers alike.' British Archaeological News

Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland offers an authoritative introduction to the riches of Irish prehistory - a span of eight thousand years from the end of the Ice Age to the first centuries of the Christian era. It provides a clear account of the development of Irish society from its beginnings as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers, through the glory of its golden age in the second millennium BC, to the technological advances stimulated by the discovery of iron and, in the last centuries BC, the growth of a Celtic art style of unrivalled power and individuality. Many of the developments in research and excavation detailed in the book were carried out or initiated by the author himself. In Early Ireland he encapsulates in inimitable style the fruits of more than three decades spent imparting his love and knowledge of Ireland, its people and its antiquities.

List of illustrations
Preface Glyn Daniel
Acknowledgements
1. The Ice Age
2. The Mesolithic period
3. The Neolithic period
4. The late Neolithic/Beaker period
5. Megaliths
6. Single burials and earthen and stone enclosures
7. The Bronze Age
8. Bronze Age burial
9. Bronze Age settlement and stone monuments
10. The Iron Age
11. Later prehistoric settlement
12. Iron Age burial
Appendix
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], British & Irish history [HBJD1]