Irish Blessings Tours

In my A-Z of Things to See in Ireland I recommend archaeological evidence of Neolithic Ireland for the letter N. The fascination with such megalithic memorials to loved ones is hard to suppress.  We have to take this in context.  Newgrange in Co. Meath is as old as the Valley of the Kings Pyramids in Egypt.  But it is also estimated that Newgrange, one of the greatest passage tombs of Neolithic Ireland, is older than Stonehenge! This is considered the stone age.

Let’s put this in context.  Before Neolithic Ireland than was Mesolithic Ireland.  These people were hunter gatherers who lived  before 4,500 BCE.  They used stone tools and treated their dead with reverence.  The period that concerns Neolithic Ireland is roughly from 4,500 –2,500 BCE.  During those two millennia the inhabitants of Ancient Ireland moved from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to introducing farming.  By the end of the era they had discovered  how to develop metal tools.  The Bronze Age began.

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