The earliest people to arrive in Southeast Dublin were hunters, fishers & gatherers who used stone technology (6000 – 4000 BC). On arriving here, they discovered a diverse landscape that provided a mixed diet of wild pig, red deer, salmon, trout, eels, fish, shellfish, birds, & fruits of the forest. They were nomadic people never staying long in one place, always in search of the next meal.
The Neolithic people on the other hand settled here on a more permanent basis (4000- 2000 BC) and we know a bit more about them. They arrived at our shores probably in skin-covered timber-framed boats carrying cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, & cats. They built enclosures made of dry-stone walls to protect themselves from predators such as the wolf.
They cleared trees to create open spaces and planted wheat & barley. They ploughed the land with wooden framed ploughs with sharp stone blades pulled by humans or cattle. They manufactured their own tools such as axes, arrowheads, flint knives & scrapers. Pottery was made by hand (not thrown on a wheel) & probably fired in primitive kilns.
The houses that they built were either round or rectangular in shape. They were constructed using a combination of posts, planks & wattle (clay) walling. Some of these houses had 2/3 internal rooms with a hearth & a roasting pit. They buried their dead in Court Tombs & Portal Tombs both of which can be found in the Dunlaoghaire Rathdown area. My favourite is the Glendruid Portal Tomb, standing proud in a magical setting.
Author – Liz Pilkington
Cabinteely History – Connecting To Our Neolithic Past
Cabinteely Life 