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Early Ireland : an introduction to Irish prehistory / Michael J. O'Kelly, prepared for the press by Claire O'Kelly.

By: O'Kelly, Michael J.
Contributor(s): O'Kelly, Claire.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1989Description: xiii, 375 p. : ill, maps, plans ; 25 cm. + hbk.ISBN: 0521334896 (hbk); 0521336872 (pbk).Subject(s): Prehistoric peoples -- Ireland | Ireland -- AntiquitiesDDC classification: 936.1501
Contents:
The Ice Age -- The Mesolithic period -- The Neolithic period -- The late Neolithic/Beaker period -- Megaliths -- Single burials and earthen and stone enclosures -- The Bronze Age -- Bronze Age burial -- Bronze Age settlement and stone monuments -- The Iron Age -- Later prehistoric settlement -- Iron Age burial.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Bishopstown Library Store 936.1501 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00126498
General lending MTU Bishopstown Library Store 936.1501 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00018867
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland offers an authoritative introduction to the riches of Irish prehistory - a span of eight thousand years from the end of the Ice Age to the first centuries of the Christian era. It provides a clear account of the development of Irish society from its beginnings as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers, through the glory of its golden age in the second millennium BC, to the technological advances stimulated by the discovery of iron and, in the last centuries BC, the growth of a Celtic art style of unrivalled power and individuality. Many of the developments in research and excavation detailed in the book were carried out or initiated by the author himself. In Early Ireland he encapsulates in inimitable style the fruits of more than three decades spent imparting his love and knowledge of Ireland, its people and its antiquities.

Bibliography: (pages 353-370) and index.

The Ice Age -- The Mesolithic period -- The Neolithic period -- The late Neolithic/Beaker period -- Megaliths -- Single burials and earthen and stone enclosures -- The Bronze Age -- Bronze Age burial -- Bronze Age settlement and stone monuments -- The Iron Age -- Later prehistoric settlement -- Iron Age burial.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • List of illustrations
  • Preface Glyn Daniel
  • Acknowledgements
  • 1 The Ice Age
  • 2 The Mesolithic period
  • 3 The Neolithic period
  • 4 The late Neolithic/Beaker period
  • 5 Megaliths
  • 6 Single burials and earthen and stone enclosures
  • 7 The Bronze Age
  • 8 Bronze Age burial
  • 9 Bronze Age settlement and stone monuments
  • 10 The Iron Age
  • 11 Later prehistoric settlement
  • 12 Iron Age burial
  • Appendix
  • Bibliography

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

O'Kelly, one of Ireland's most renowned archaeologists and the excavator of the highly significant Newgrange neolithic burial mound, died while this book was still in draft form. It has been ably completed by his wife, Claire, an archaeologist in her own right. This study surveys more than 8,000 years of Irish prehistory, from postglacial hunters, through the gold and glories of the second millenium BCE, to the dawn of Christianity. Two features are especially attractive. First, in addition to the usual attention to monuments, ornaments, and burials, O'Kelly also discusses residential settlements. Second, the text rather precisely enumerates evidence, instead of merely generalizing about it. Thus, one learns that there are 1,200 megalithic tombs, 200 Early Bronze Age axes, 81 gold lunula (crescent shaped, paper thin collars), and 300 Ogam inscriptions. Claire O'Kelly is quite abreast of recent scholarship and offers interesting details about the indigenous nature of Beaker pottery finds and about the surprising indications of later casual Irish contact with Romans. The book is pleasant enough to read, but since its method is expository and classificatory rather than imaginatively analytical, some prior knowledge of the field will be helpful. However, as a handy resourse on the myriad achievements of prehistoric Ireland, it is hard to beat. Upper-division undergraduates and above. E. J. Kealey College of the Holy Cross