Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Modern Antiquarian Forum »
Chronology
Log In to post a reply

13 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Annexus Quam
926 posts

Re: Chronology
Feb 17, 2002, 19:17
I didn't quite get what kind of chronology you were after; dates vary from area to area as well as interlap, so it's a bit mad to try and get it all together in a comprehensive scheme. Then it also varies even more from country to country, with many of the Breton and Portuguese megaliths claiming to be the oldest (4,500 BC)

Here's some examples of BCE dates for constructions in the UK and Eire:

First thing to know is that long barrows are the oldest (4-3000), mostly collective, round barrows are later Bronze age individual (chieftain) tombs (3-2000)

Irish wedge tombs date between 2000 and 1000 (apparently) as well as any other cremation cemetery (cremation was a later Ur-Celtic introduction)

As for other monuments...

Causeways are the oldest (4000-3000) closely followed by cursuses, then timber henges and stone circles between 3000 and 2000 (stonehenge being a clear example of a later Bronze Age development)

If you don't know it already, hillforts are Celtic fortifications, therefore very late constructions (after 1,300)

Basically, changes were gradual but a deterioration of the climate caused war and famine galore at times in the Celtic Iron Age in many overpopulated areas.

The Neolithic roughly coincides with the Megalithic, and the gradual introduction of agriculture or the creation of mixed communities began in earnest.

Paleolithic=before farming. Before the British Isles were isles.

The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index