Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Over the millennia, the Mound became the very symbol of Irish heritage. This is where
Ireland's kings claimed their power, where St. Patrick preached his deal-clinching sermon,
and where, in the 1800s, Daniel O'Connell rallied Irish patriots to demand their independ-
ence from Britain.
The Evolution of Metalworking:
Around 2500
B.C.
, Ireland discovered how to
make metal—mining ore, smelting it in furnaces, and casting or hammering it into shapes.
The rest is prehistory. You'll travel through the Bronze Age (axeheads from 2000
B.C.
) and
Iron Age (500
B.C.
) as you examine assorted spears, shields, swords, and war horns. The
cauldrons made for everyday cooking were also used ceremonially to prepare elaborate
ritual feasts for friends and symbolic offerings for the gods. The most impressive metal
objects are in the center of the hall.
Ireland's Gold:
Ireland had modest gold deposits, mainly gathered by prehistoric
people panning for small nuggets and dust in the rivers. But the jewelry they left, some of
it more than 4,000 years old, is exquisite. The earliest fashion choice was a broad necklace
hammered flat (a
lunula
, so called for its crescent-moon shape). This might be worn with
accompanying earrings and sun-disc brooches. Later jewelry (c. 800
B.C.
) was cast from
clay molds into bracelets and unique “dress fasteners” that you'd slip into buttonholes to
secure a cloak. Some of these gold objects may have been gifts to fertility gods, offered by
burying them in marshy bogs.
