I have just joined the group and am interested in compareing Irish
mythology with Irish archaeology in the pre-christian, even pre-
celtic era. Being of Irish descent, coupled with a passion for the
unknown, I came to Erin, from California, some 5 years ago for a
month of exploration, on a very primitive level, visiting half dozen
stone circles as well as Newgrange. I find Irish pre-history even
more fascinating by the fact that it only goes back to circa 7,000 bc.
Relating to the Bronze Age, it is my current operating theory that
the fabled Tuatha de Dannan were the coming of the Bronze Age to
Ireland which, as an outpost island, was still in the late neolithic.
With this possibility as an anchor, it closely follows that the Fir
Bolg were the late neolithics, who built Newgrange. Recent discovery
would seem to identify the People of Partholon as the early
neolithics who first brought agriculture to the island, batteling
with the mesolithic Fomors who are said to have a "glass" tower
stronghold on Tory Island. In mythology the People of Partholon
toiled with the land for 300 years before dying out of a plague.
Gabriel Cooney, in his detailed book, Landscapes of Neoithic Ireland,
documents pollen counts that show agressive agriculture from 4,000bc
to around 3,700bc, followed by an abandonment of agriculture and the
regeneration of the forests.
Should anyone on this site be interested in exploring the Tuatha de
Dannan / Bronze Age piece of the puzzle, please respond here or at my
little msn. groups site
http://groups.msn.com.CollegeofArchaeoMythology-Eire
Thank-you, Gerald Moore