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Ancient Peoples and Places
Pre-Christian Ireland: From the First Settlers to the Early Celts
Tells the story of human settlement in Ireland from its beginnings 10,000 years ago to St Patrick's Christianizing mission in the 5th century AD. This is interwoven with accounts of major excavations at sites such as Carrowmore, Rathgall and Navan Fort.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1988
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January 6, 2009
Pre-Christian Ireland deals with the archeology of Ireland’s prehistoric period up to the coming of Christianity. The author of this book was trying to make a survey of this period taking into account the updated research and finds made of that period up until the time of the printing of the book. This book uses for its main sources archeology, radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology or the science of tree-ring dating. To a certain extent the author achieved his goal.
In the Epilogue the author explains his vision of the book. He tells us that since the people had not written their history down the only way to tell the story is by looking at what they left behind, monuments, settlements and objects. It is up to the archeologist to flesh out the picture based on these objects. I think that for most people who are interested in history an incomplete picture is better then no picture at all.
In general the book is a very good appraisal of the archeological evidence that we have for the period of prehistory in Ireland. I did feel however that the author missed the boat by trying to present only the archeology without giving in ideas of what he thinks these objects fit together to give a more human picture. The way he presented the dates is also very confusing at times, sometimes I didn’t even know what date he was talking about. On the plus side it was not a dry book either, you get the sense of the enthusiasm that the author has for his subject matter, which is mostly missing from many archeology books.
In the Epilogue the author explains his vision of the book. He tells us that since the people had not written their history down the only way to tell the story is by looking at what they left behind, monuments, settlements and objects. It is up to the archeologist to flesh out the picture based on these objects. I think that for most people who are interested in history an incomplete picture is better then no picture at all.
In general the book is a very good appraisal of the archeological evidence that we have for the period of prehistory in Ireland. I did feel however that the author missed the boat by trying to present only the archeology without giving in ideas of what he thinks these objects fit together to give a more human picture. The way he presented the dates is also very confusing at times, sometimes I didn’t even know what date he was talking about. On the plus side it was not a dry book either, you get the sense of the enthusiasm that the author has for his subject matter, which is mostly missing from many archeology books.
Displaying 1 of 1 review