7/29/2019 Irelands earliest farmhouses

1/1

21 January 2012 COUNTRY LIVING

eritageNTRY

loured band of soil forming a squareor rectangular pattern against thelighter colour of exposed topsoil.The dark-coloured soil is the visibleremains of the ll of the trenches

that once held the wooden walls of the house.

HOUSE STRUCTUREThe trenches provide the outline of the houses, square to rectangularin plan, many measuring betweensix and eight metres long and fourand seven metres wide. There arealso a smaller number of housesin the larger range of nine to 11metres long and six to eight metres wide. Some have end walls thatare slightly curved. Curiously, suchmeasurements are often re ectedin the average rural bungalow of modern times.

In spite of their truncated

nature, these buried slot-trenchescontain enough information toallow the archaeologist to build a

speculative model of the building that originally stood at that loca-tion. The Neolithic house wouldhave been a robust building andconstruction would have involved

much of the expertise of the Stone Age carpenter. There is evidencefor several different techniques of house construction. Some havetimber frames, upright posts and walls constructed of vertical planks;others show evidence of wattle walls, sometimes combined withplank walls.

Excavated remains indicate thatin many cases the walls carriedthe weight of the roof, while thereare other examples of large postsproviding additional support for theroof. Doorways or entrance gapscan be seen in a number of houses;at Ballyglass, Co Mayo, for example,the entrance was located at the

northwest corner of the structure.In many instances there isevidence for a hearth (sometimes

sited dangerously close to internalupright posts) and traces of internaldivisions to create rooms.

In the days before the chimney,there is no doubt that ventilation

would have been an issue. With re-gard to the roo ng of such houses,the evidence is not easily recog-nised owing to the vulnerability of this part of the structure. It is likely,however, that thatch would havebeen commonly employed.

INFLUENCESThere is evidence of prehistoricritual practices at a large numberof houses, such as the deliberatedeposition of broken pottery andstone objects (arrowheads, stoneaxe heads and quern fragments) inthe foundation trenches and post-holes. Perhaps the builders werepaying respect to the earth that

sustained them.The similarity of plans andconstruction techniques across

This is the second in a series of 12 articles from the National MonumentsService of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to introduceFarmers Journal readers to the archaeology of Ireland and to highlight thevital role of the farming community in preserving our heritage.

elands earliest farmhousesthe history of mankind, onethe most profound changes

at affected the developmentcivilisation was the adop-hat came to be known asithic Revolution a lifestylent on cereal-growing andusbandry, which spreadsopotamia and the Middle

land, the change from theatherer economy of theic (Middle Stone Age, circa

00BC) to an economy basedulture would have implied ay of looking at the land-he settled farming lifestyleave been in stark contrast

obile existence of Irelandsic inhabitants.

cal monuments of the Neo-iod (the New Stone Age,0-2000BC) are the highly

nd intriguing megalithicat dot the Iri sh landscape.ombs like Newgrange,and Dowth in the Br naomplex in Co Meath indi-

high degree of organisational structure that formed thee of Neolithic society.visible but equally as im-or our understanding arestic arrangements of theho occupied the land-ncient remains originally

ted with organic materialstraces at surface level foreologist to identify. It is nothen, that houses that dater ve and a half thousand

o are identi ed (and, in-expected to be identi ed)psoil operations associ-

h modern infrastructuralment works such as pipe-motorway constructionrying.

NT FINDSaround 80 Neolithic housesn discovered at 50 sites.

ve been discovered inars, leading Professor Ga-

oney of UCD to refer to aboom in the Neolithic inThe houses are found as in-structures and sometimess of two or three. There areer clusters such as those atl in Co Derry, where at leaststructures were discovered

ed by a series of palisades.orbally in Co Kildare, sevens in two distinct groupsn discovered. There is in-t evidence to say for certain

uld have built and usedes but it is likely that they ave been built by individualand that the clusters may n used by extended family

cally, the remains of a Neo-use appear as a dark-co-

ONAL MONUMENTS AN ROINN EALAON, OIDREACHTA AGUS GAELTACHTA | DEPARTMENT OF ARTS, HERITAGE AND THE GAELTAC

Reconstruction of a Neolithic house at the Irish National Heritage Park, Ferrycarrig, Co Wexford.

P i c

t ur e:

C l ai r eB r

e en ,N

a t i on

al M on

um

en t s S er v i c e

member that all recorded archaeological monuments are protected under the National Monuments Acts 1930-2004. Visitors to archaeological monuments on lands in private ownership should request permission from ther. If you would like to know more about the archaeological monuments on your land or in your l ocality, please visit www.archaeology.ie. Any questions or f eedback can be forwarded to nationalmonuments@ahg.gov.ie

Neolithic Ireland has been high-lighted by archaeologists EoinGrogan and Jessica Smyth. Smythstates that the island-wide simi-larities in materials and methods of

construction, in size and date, andin associated features such as pits,suggest the existence on some levelof a commonly held house tem-plate, or a common awareness of the correct way to construct thesebuildings.

If this is the case, there is nodoubt that knowledge of agricultur-al methods and techniques wouldhave spread in a similar fashion.

To nd the places where thepeople who tilled the land cooked,ate and slept is exciting for thearchaeologist. Our understanding of Neolithic houses is just one aspectof early farming in Ireland. There isso much more to be discovered.

NEXT WEEK THE TOMBSOF OUR ANCESTORS

The Neolithic housewould have been a

robust building andconstruction wouldhave involved muchof the expertise of theStone Age carpenter.