The Irish Neolithic has been dominated by the study of megalithic tombs, but the defining element of Irish settlement evidence is the rectangular timber Early Neolithic house, the numbers of which have more than quadrupled in the last ten years. The substantial Early Neolithic timber house was a short-lived architectural phenomenon of as little as 90 years, perhaps like short-lived Early Neolithic long barrows and causewayed enclosures. This book explores the wealth of evidence for settlement and houses throughout the Irish Neolithic, in relation to Britain and continental Europe. More importantly it incorporates the wealth of new, and often unpublished, evidence from developer-led archaeological excavations and large grey-literature resources.

The settlement evidence scattered across the landscape, and found as a result of developer-funded work, provides the social context for the more famous stone monuments that have traditionally shaped our views of the Neolithic in Ireland. It provides the first comprehensive review of the Neolithic settlement of Ireland, which enables a more holistic and meaningful understanding of the Irish Neolithic.

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures, Tables, Appendices and Author details
• Abstract
  • French Language Abstract
  • German Language Abstract
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Populating the past: settlement archaeology in Britain and Ireland
  • Neolithic settlement archaeology in Ireland and Britain
    • Paths dividing
    • An enduring framework of monuments
    • The language of settlement
    • Variability and regionality
• Chapter 2: The house and society
  • More than dwellings
  • Becoming a house
  • Temporality and rhythm
  • The living house
  • Anthropology and archaeology
• Chapter 3: The Irish Early Neolithic house
  • A housing boom
  • Siting and orientation
  • Distribution and grouping
  • Size, shape and space
  • Structural detail
  • Associated features
  • The ‘house horizon’
    • Model behaviour
• Chapter 4: The role of the Early Neolithic house
  • Roles – real and imagined
  • Hearths and homes
  • Assemblages and activity
  • The house in society, society in the house
    • Digging and filling
    • Burning and breaking
    • Interpreting burning
    • Why deliberate burning?
    • Burning issues
• Chapter 5: Beyond the ‘house horizon’
  • Dating Lough Gur
  • Lough Gur and the Neolithic
    • The Site A house
    • The Site B house
    • Sites C and D
  • Strength in numbers
  • Form and interpretation: the late fourth millennium BC
    • Characterising architecture
  • Circling the square
  • Intertwined architecture
  • Continuity and change
• Chapter 6: Settling the island: activity and place
  • The spaces in between
    • Sampling the diversity
  • The components of Neolithic settlement: the broader picture
    • A chronology of settlement
  • Talking about settlement: ways towards an alternative narrative
  • Written in stone?
    • Houses
    • Enclosures
    • Ad hoc or not? Activity in less formal settings
    • The evidence from quarries
  • Digging to remember – narratives of pits and pit deposits
    • Pits and early settlement.
    • Later pit deposits
  • Parallel worlds?
• Chapter 7: A landscape in small acts
  • Deconstructing and reconnecting – small acts among large stones
  • Digging pits – connecting with the earth
    • Deposition in the Neolithic
  • Residues
    • A landscape through time
• Chapter 8: After the flood: re-assessing the Irish Neolithic
  • Beyond the ‘House Horizon’
  • Filling in the gaps – Middle and Late Neolithic houses
  • The bigger settlement picture …
  • … and the smaller
  • Final thoughts
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Early Neolithic houses and associated buildings in Ireland
  • Appendix 2: The siting and dimensions of Early Neolithic houses and associated buildings
  • Appendix 3: Radiocarbon determinations from Irish Early Neolithic houses and associated buildings
• Bibliography