The First People of Ireland -- Introduction

by Willow Ragan
© 2000
Introduction / The Irish Mesolithic / Mesolithic society
Conclusions / Notes and References

ver the course of thousands of years the last great ice sheets receded from the European continent. During this vast expanse of time, the ecosystem was transformed as the climate entered a warmer phase.
Grassland and steppe gave way to increasingly dense forests and with this change in plant forms, the large "megafauna" that our distant ancestors had hunted disappeared and were replaced by deer, wild cattle, elk and other mammals that we are more familiar with.
A changing environment necessitated an adaptation for the people. Without metal axes with which to clear sizable areas of the increasingly forested land, they transformed their way of life from one of nomadic plains hunters to semi-nomadic foragers and fisher-folk. For thousands of years the people of Western Europe lived and worked in seasonal camps on the shorelines of seas, rivers and large lakes.(See also From Forest Field and River.) From these waters could be had many things, fish, shellfish, plants for food, medicine and building materials, waterfowl and eggs in season. Though they hunted the forest, the shoreline environment also provided hunting opportunities as larger mammals came to the water's edge to drink. From skin-covered and dugout canoes they fished and hunted the ocean coast and deep river channels and traveled by these waterways to hunting and work camps or to visit other settlements.
This period in European history, which precedes the development of agriculture, is called the Mesolithic or "middle" stone age. Lasting about 6,000 years depending on location, it spans roughly the years 10,000 to 3,5000 BC.
This epoch is characterized by the following major trends:

New centers of population growth appear with the replacement of open steppe/tundra environments by forest.: ~~People camped on riverbanks, lake and ocean shores and the margins of encompassing forests.; ~~They adapted to a riverine environment with a diet of waterfowl, fish and shellfish, wild pig, hare, water plants, forest nuts and berries. In the case of people living in Britain and on the continent this list would also include red and roe deer, elk and wild cattle or aurochs.
Major changes in the form of stone tools with microliths ¹ becoming very common and the widespread use of bow and arrow.: ~~Changes in tool technology to overcome the natural weakness of stone blades, which are brittle and tend to snap if much pressure is applied or if they impact with anything hard such as bone.; ~~Increase in the use of "insertion," a technique developed in the Upper Paleolithic, in which several small blades are inserted into the edges of a piece of bone or wood. This technique has several advantages over the use of a single larger blade; individual inserts can be replaced if lost or broken; it allows for the use of small cores and flakes; the length of tools can be increased with more strength; edges can be straighter for smoother cutting; it frees the group to travel beyond areas where large deposits of flint are found because they can now use any size of flint; it proved to be an important technique for the Neolithic and metallic ages to come.
The likelihood of more specific responses to local environmental conditions as suggested by a greater geographical variety in cultural remains.
Smaller game hunting replaces the larger game hunting of the later Pleistocene.
Cultural degeneration of some aspects of Mesolithic society, particularly the graphic arts, when compared to the Upper Paleolithic².

Introduction / The Irish Mesolithic / Mesolithic society
Conclusions / Notes and References