Searching for Ireland’s First Settlers tells the story of the archaeology and history of the first continuous phase of Ireland’s human settlement. It combines centuries of search and speculation about human antiquity in Ireland with a review of what is known today about the Irish Mesolithic. This is, in part, provided in the context of the author’s 50 years of personal experience searching to make sense of what initially appeared to be little more than a collection of beach rolled and battered flint tools. The story is embedded in how the island of Ireland, its position, distinct landscape and ecology impacted on when and how Ireland was colonised. It also explores how these first settlers evolved their technologies and lifeways to suit the narrow range of abundant resources that were available. The volume concludes with discussions on how the landscape should be searched for the often ephemeral traces of these early settlers and how sites should be excavated. It asks what we really know about the thoughts and life of the people themselves and what happened to them as farming began to be introduced.

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Part I: In the Beginning
  • Chapter 1: Why?
    • What has changed
    • The purpose
    • The format
    • Health warnings
    • For those who accompanied me
    • In summary
  • Chapter 2: Understanding Ireland’s environment and ecology
    • Ireland today
    • The development of Ireland’s ecology and geography
    • The Late Pleistocene background
    • The conundrum of the earliest Holocene
    • Fauna and flora
    • Raw materials within the Irish Mesolithic
    • So what makes Ireland different?
  • Chapter 3: It’s about time
    • Early debates on human origins and “deep time”
    • Ireland’s place in the debate on the “Antiquity of Man”
    • The story of the Irish Mesolithic
    • Conclusion
• Part II: Laying the Foundations
  • Chapter 4: Where did it all come from?
    • Creating the database
    • The role of excavations
    • Environmental issues and the creation of the Mesolithic
    • Distribution patterns
    • The excavation record
    • Conclusion
  • Chapter 5: Chronology, flint facts and other artefacts
    • Radiocarbon dating
    • The conventional typology
• Part III: Often an Island Too Far
  • Chapter 6: Anything earlier?
    • Before the Last Glacial Maximum
    • Just delayed, not missing?
  • Chapter 7: The first arrivals
    • The British “Early” Mesolithic
    • The earliest Holocene human settlement in Ireland
    • Factors constraining movement to new lands
    • Why the delay in getting to Ireland?
    • Was there anyone there?
    • Problems on arrival
    • The challenges of surviving on the island
    • Summary
  • Chapter 8: Settling in
    • What is the evidence?
    • The issue of “the gap”
    • The beginnings of the Later Mesolithic
    • Suggested renaming of phases within the Irish Mesolithic
    • Gone native
    • Were there changes in technology throughout the Later Mesolithic?
    • A proposed chronology
• Part IV: Lifeways
  • Chapter 9: Patterns in the landscape
    • Sites and artefacts: patterns at an “island” level
    • Settlement patterns in the Later Mesolithic
    • Identifying the local
    • Raw materials and territoriality
    • Vegetation changes and manipulating the environment
    • Conclusion
  • Chapter 10: Food, sustenance and procurement
    • The faunal assemblages
    • Plant foods
    • Taking an overview
    • Reflecting on the story so far
• Part V: Where to Now
  • Chapter 11: A critical analysis of fieldwork and methodologies
    • Issues
    • Finding sites
    • A Baker’s Dozen
    • What should be expected
    • What is important on the excavation
    • How extensive an area should be excavated
    • Mesolithic houses: a hard look at the evidence
    • Well what are we looking for?
  • Chapter 12: Life and death
    • Life, death, the universe and everything (as well as little furry creatures from Alpha Centauri)
    • Is this the end of all things?
    • What happened to the natives?
    • How then is this evidence to be interpreted?
    • Final thoughts
• Bibliography
• Plates