6000-5000 BCE - Mesolithic Period

by Larry Chamberlin

Mesolithic (Late Stone Age) people settle in Hibernia. These immigrants, the Late Hunting People, left rubbish mounds along the eastern coast, in Ulster and in Donegal. They likely crossed over from southern Scotland and also possibly from Wales. They lived as Fishers and Hunters and kept domesticated animals (oxen, goats and sheep) and made rough pottery. No evidence indicates cultural development sufficient to suspect a structured language or artistic endeavors. Rudimentary tomb building developed. They may have invented the Court Tomb, though the next wave of immigrants were more prolific in their construction, as found at Ballyglass, Co. Mayo and at Creevykeel and Deerpark, both in County Sligo.

Radio-carbon dating of scrapers, hammerstones and worked wood found at Toome Bay, Ireland shows evidence of Mesolithic hominids in this period.

Sources:

A History of Ireland, Peter & Fiona Somerset Fry, © Barnes & Noble Books, 1993, New York, ISBN 1-56619-215-3. (Orig. printing © 1988, Peter Fry, Routledge Press)

Ireland In Prehistory, Michael Herity and George Eogan, Routledge, ©1997, ISBN 0-415-04889-3

prepared by Larry Chamberlin

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