Abstract
Ireland has often been seen as marginal in the spread of the Neolithic and of early farming throughout Europe, in part due to the paucity of available data. By integrating and analysing a wealth of evidence from unpublished reports, a much more detailed picture of early arable agriculture has emerged. The improved chronological resolution reveals changing patterns in the exploitation of different plant species during the course of the Neolithic that belie simplistic notions of a steady intensification in farming, juxtaposed with a concomitant decline in foraging. It is possible that here, as in other areas of Europe, cereal cultivation became less important in the later Neolithic.
DOI
10.15184/aqy.2015.212
Publication Date
2016-04-06
Publication Title
Antiquity
Volume
90
Issue
350
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Embargo Period
2024-11-25
Keywords
Neolithic, Agriculture, Cereal cultivation, Ireland
First Page
302
Last Page
318
Recommended Citation
McClatchie, M., Bogaard, A., Colledge, S., & et al. (2016) 'The introduction of agriculture into Ireland: a review of the plant macro-remains evidence', Antiquity, 90(350), pp. 302-318. Cambridge University Press: Available at: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.212
