| |
 hen, notes Tuan, the Nemedians took Ireland. As previously mentioned, Nemedh ("Neimheadh" in Early Irish) means "sacred or privileged person." Privileged and likely considered sacred was this new sophisticated people who sailed up the Irish Sea, landing near the Liffey and Boyne estuaries shortly after 3000 BC. Subsequently they spread north and west to Ulster and Sligo Bay as well as south into the central lowlands. Coincidentally with their arrival, further new changes in the environment again began to occur. Most significant is the evidence of farming and domestic animals, including cattle and, for the first time, horses.
These newly arrived early Neolithic farmers initiated revolutionary changes in the landscape. The horse and new kinds of cattle were introduced as was walled pastures needed to retain and partially protect their live-stock. New permanent settlements were cleared from the mixed oak and alder woodlands. With them came the ard, a rudimentary wooden plough, revolutionizing soil tillage. Further, evidence indicates that they began the practice of soil enrichment and fertilization with animal offal and seaweed. They also understood the need to rotate soil usage and evidence exists that crop-land would be converted to pasture for a time, then reverted back to crop planting. Where some cereals and grains had been raised by their predecessors, the Nemedians greatly increased their growth and consumption.
The greatest long-term impact on Ireland was not, however, advances in agriculture and animal domestication. The Nemedians also brought with them an ongoing contact with the outside world. Trade with present day Germany and Denmark was instituted, and perhaps more importantly, they had some knowledge of metallurgy, for by the mid 29th century BC, copper mines were being established in Co. Kerry and Co. Cork. Not only copper, but also native gold which Ireland had in abundance, was worked and Ireland began international trade with the nearby Danes and what is now Germany. |
|
