Mesolithic era Essay Example

Mesolithic era Essay Example Mesolithic era Paper Mesolithic era Paper It is thought too that the women, while the males were out hunting the animals- collected berries and other wild shrubs to cook with the meal as part of their diet. Thus, Mesolithic eating habits would not have had a significant impact on the landscape of Ireland. In contrast, Neolithic people are known as the first farmers in Ireland. It is wrong to think that Mesolithic people discovered farming and then became Neolithic people; rather Neolithic ways of life began to spread to Ireland from settlers across the sea and brought this new way of life with them. Neolithic folk were involved in cultivating the land they lived on and grew crops and vegetation as a food source, they still hunted and gathered in berries and nuts but now their diet was supplemented on a regular basis by the produce of their crops, and by the domesticated animals they kept such as pigs, sheep, cattle and hunting dogs. Evidence from Cashelkeelty, County Kerry, suggests that this happened between 3900BC and 3000BC wesleyjohnston. com/users/ireland/past/pre_ norman_history/neolithic_age. html. Findings around Neolithic sites, which have been excavated, have provided evidence of a new technology as described by J. P. Mallory T. E. McNeill; they go on to say There was also a new technology that has been especially developed for this new agricultural economy. The first farmer colonists introduced their own variety of polished stone axes for clearing away forests, flint tools for harvesting their crops, grinding stones for processing the cereal, and pots made from clay to assist in cooking and serve as containers. Even the tools used for hunting changes as these early farmers brought their own type of flint arrowheads and javelins, and now that there was easy access to animals whose hides were particularly useful to man, we begin to find abundant evidence for flint scrapers. (1991. P. 30. ) Such dramatic changes to diet brought would have brought about significant changes to the physical landscape of Ireland; people were now starting to cut away areas of woodland so they could cultivate the land for farming and building their settlements. The effects of this are evident today, with the creation of blanket bogland throughout Ireland and particularly around areas where Neolithic artefacts are discovered. Ireland has 12,000 kmi of bogland, consisting of two distinct types, blanket bogs and raised bogs. Blanket bogs are the more widespread of the two types. They are essentially a product of human activity aided by the moist Irish climate. Blanket bogs formed on sites where Neolithic farmers cleared trees for farming. As the land so cleared fell into disuse, the soil began to leach and become more acidic, producing a suitable environment for the growth of heather and rushes. The debris from these plants accumulated and a layer of peat formed. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Geography_of_Ireland#Bogs. The continuous falling debris has caused these bogs to grow and an example of the height to which they have grown is all too evident in the Ceide Fields, located in North County Mayo. Thus, most of Irelands upland peat bogs (although not the lower ones are actually features inadvertently created by Neolithic farmers). In relation to housing Mesolithic people did not build permanent settlements, this was due to their way of life, being from a hunter-gatherer culture, these individuals tended to be nomadic, moving from season to season, going where the food was. During the summer and early autumn months it is thought that these people settled beside coastal areas- were it was cooler and throughout the winter and spring they settled more inland, taking refuge and protection from the weather amongst the dense woodland. There is no absolute evidence for these assumptions however; tools from the Mesolithic era have been located around or close to coastal areas. The Curran (Near to present day Larne, County Antrim) is a raised beach where archaeologists have found thousands of flint tools, and in County Offaly, archaeologists uncovered evidence of a Mesolithic settlement at Lough Boora. Neolithic peoples contributed to the changing of the landscape through the settlement dividing which are evident in the Ceide Fields of northern County Mayo. The Ceide Fields are a series of stone field boundaries discovered preserved under peat on the edge of a cliff in Mayo. At the time, they were made; the climate would have allowed them to grow crops there, although today it is a bog. It would be on this land, beside that which they cultivated that their dwellings would be built. Neolithic settlers built more structured and permanent buildings for settlement than the Mesolithic. A Neolithic house was rectangular and made either from tree trunks sunk vertically into the ground or from woven branches covered with mud. A large beam leaning against the ridge of the roof supported the gables at each end. The roof itself was made from timber beams with reed thatch covering it. A small hole in the roof allowed smoke to escape because, unlike the Mesolithic Irish, the Neolithic farmers lit their fires and cooked indoors. We know what these houses looked like because, although most of the wood itself has gone, the post-holes have survived and engineers can thus determine the houses structure. wesleyjohnston. com/users/ireland/past/pre_norman_ history/neolithic_age. html.