Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory

by Michael J. O'Kelly

The development of Irish society is traced from its origins as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers through the technological and artistic advances of its golden age in second millennium B.C.

Genres: Ireland, History, Irish Literature, Archaeology, Nonfiction

392 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 1989

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not going to finish this book. Just like the other book about Irish archeology that I bought in Ireland in 1990, it's quite outdated and reads a little like a textbook. I'm sure at the time it was published, it was definitive, but I also think there have been many more sites investigated since it was published.

After reading about half of it I started skimming to read about places I've actually been. I think I am not as interested in overviews by type of site or artifact as I am in books about a single site and how the excavations gradually revealed more about it.

There are many maps showing distribution of various kinds of monuments and tombs within Ireland, and it's striking how much more seems to be known or studied in the North and East. In passing he says that the farming economy of the southwest was much more pastoral (i.e. based on raising animals), which means that there is not the kind of large scale field tillage that often results in archaeological finds. So that is the nugget of wisdom I'm taking away from this book.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now somewhat out of date but a very useful overview - in particular, it includes a large number of maps showing the distribution of various site types and enabling the reader to locate the places named in the text. The analysis is also clear and although there will be new information from more recent excavations, I still found this a helpful introduction.

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reference book.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, so, so dry.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 It is a good solid, easy to read book, BUT if you are expecting a lot of information on the Celts then this is not the book for you. This is the history of Early Ireland, not the Celts.