Chronology & Technology

Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

’s Later Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 period begins sometime between 7000 BC

7th millennium BC

During the 7th millennium BC, agriculture spreads from Anatolia to the Balkans.World population was essentially stable at around 5 million people, living mostly scattered across the globe in small hunting-gathering tribes...

 and 6000 BC with the occurrence of a pan-Ireland and Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 macrolithic (large stone flake/blade) stone tool tradition: no transitional industry has yet been identified that bridges the gap between this industry and the Early Mesolithic microlith

Microlith

A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. It is produced from either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching, which leaves a very typical piece of waste,...

ic (very small flake/blade) industry that preceded it.

The Later Mesolithic period ends around 4000 BC

5th millennium BC

The 5th millennium BC saw the spread of agriculture from the Near East throughout southern and central Europe.Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia,...

 and is followed by a Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 lithic (stone tool) tradition based on hard and soft hammer percussion, indirect percussion, pressure flaking, and bifacing . As with the Early and Later Mesolithic, no artefacts have yet been found that represent a transition between the Later Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 and Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

.

Until recently there have been few signs of variation across the approximately 2–3000 years that comprise the Later Mesolithic period – no identifiable trends toward regionalization or intensification, no noteworthy differences in settlement patterns across space or time. However, as with all static models of human society, this one has reflected data, analytical, and interpretative limitations rather than reality.

The island’s extensive bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

 and alluvial deposits undoubtedly have concealed informative settlement evidence and its acidic soils have decomposed and destroyed significant amounts of organic archaeological material. Furthermore, rising sea levels, which peaked between 4500

5th millennium BC

The 5th millennium BC saw the spread of agriculture from the Near East throughout southern and central Europe.Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia,...

 and 2000 BC

20th century BC

The 20th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC.-Events:* 2000 BC: Arrival of the ancestors of the Latins in Italy.* 2000 BC: Town of Mantua was presumably founded.* 2000 BC: Stonehenge is believed to have been completed....

 , have eroded and submerged most of the coastal and estuarine evidence for foraging (hunting and gathering).

These conditions, along with a historical bias towards research in northeastern Ireland , make it quite clear that the record is woefully incomplete. However, the gaps are not evenly distributed across the entire period. Anderson and Johnson have pointed out that the best lithic data for the Later Mesolithic are associated only with its last 500 years (4500-4000 BC).

Only at Newferry is there a chronological sequence which spans the known Later Mesolithic and except for zone 3, for which there are contemporary sites, there are no comparable assemblages for the remainder of the material. If all the contexted material relates to the final phases of a period which lasted for at least 2000 years, then with the exception of a very few sites, none of which contain all the elements of a lithic assemblage, there is a possibility that the material representative of the first 1500 years is missing.

Thus, it is fair to say that much of the Later Mesolithic (c.7-6000-4000 BC) is impressively underrepresented. Ironically, it is with the last part of the Later Mesolithic that some workers have become most frustrated, like Whittle , who was stymied by his research into Ireland’s transition to the Neolithic:

"Much further research is needed, and the outlook is unfortunately gloomy. Key sites of the right date will be hard to locate in river valleys and estuaries, and the funding of problem-oriented research is not easy. We may have to wait patiently for chance discoveries of the appropriate kind".

In truth, this pessimism might be better directed at the first three quarters of the Later Mesolithic, rather than the last quarter. The difference is not only in the availability of evidence, but also in the availability of new data arising from the evidence with the application of stable isotope analysis. Indeed, stable isotope analyses

Isotope analysis

Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence...

, in combination with the advantages of AMS dating

Accelerator mass spectrometry

Accelerator mass spectrometry differs from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a rare isotope from an abundant...

, are cutting through the gloom and revealing glimpses of a surprisingly dynamic sixth millennium BP forager lifeway.

Later Mesolithic Mobility & Economy

The limited evidence for the Later Mesolithic from excavated sties and stray finds suggest a residential mobility strategy consisting of short-term food and raw material procurement and processing camps oriented toward coasts, estuaries, rivers and lakes. No inland, terrestrially-oriented sites have yet been identified. Regional surveys including the Lough Swilly Archaeological Survey in eastern County Donegal

County Donegal

County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

 , the Bally Lough Archaeological Project in County Waterford

County Waterford

*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...

  and the broader Barrow Valley Archaeological Survey in southeast Ireland have confirmed this pattern.

Excavations at the floodplain site of Newferry in County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 , the coastal, industrial site of Bay Farm, also in County Antrim , and the coastal site of Ferriter’s Cove

Ferriter's Cove

Ferriter's Cove is a small bay located at the westernmost point of Dingle Peninsula, in County Kerry, Ireland. Excavations performed in the late 20th century have provided evidence that people lived there during the Mesolithic.-External links:*...

 in County Kerry

County Kerry

Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...

  highlight the small-scale, short-term nature of occupations. Analyses of fish remains from the Ferriter’s Cove excavation suggest a mid-summer to autumn use of that site by small groups of foragers. Preliminary work employing d18O stable isotope analysis of periwinkle (Littorina littorea) shells from a feature at Ferriter’s Cove suggests another visit by foragers in the late autumn or, possibly, winter

Subsistence appears to have involved a broad spectrum of faunal resources: Newferry subsistence data have shown a focus on salmonids and eels ; Ferriter’s Cove has demonstrated exploitation of seafish, shellfish, and wild pig ; and midden

Midden

A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...

 sites along the coast of the province of Leinster

Leinster

Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...

 indicate consumption of sea mammals (e.g., seals), oysters, and limpets . Ireland lacked large terrestrial ungulates – for example, red deer (elk) – during the Later Mesolithic period .

Based on the settlement evidence, it is likely that population density was quite low. Following the lead of Milner and colleagues’ calculations for Britain , if we take the low end of ethnographic forager population density estimates (0.1/km²) and factor in Ireland’s current area (84,000 km²), we arrive at a population estimate of 8,400 individuals at any one time, spread thinly along the island’s extensive coastlines, lakeshores and river valleys.

Later Mesolithic lithic technology and raw material procurement patterns reinforce the scenario of a generalized forager adaptation, i.e., one that is characterized by low population, high mobility, and egalitarian social organization. In addition to its macrolithic nature, one of the features of the Later Mesolithic toolkit that sets it apart from those outside of Ireland is the fact that there is no stylistic variability in the broad blades and flakes found across the island . They all are made the same way – hard hammer percussion – and offer no hint of regional variation that might be indicative of differing social identities. Woodman cited this phenomenon as evidence for cultural insularity; Cooney and Grogan argued that it represented frequent interaction among forager groups; Kimball suggested it reflected an adaptation to a high mobility lifeway and variation in subsistence resource distribution. In truth, Later Mesolithic social identities might have been expressed through a completely different medium, such as tope-skin or pig-skin clothing, tattoos, canoe paddles, or some other material that has long since disintegrated.