Lasers have revealed hundreds of previously undiscovered prehistoric artifacts, including five rare ones, clustered in a swath of farmland in the Irish countryside.
Archaeologists discovered the ruins in Baltinglass, a town in County Wicklow in eastern Ireland, using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a technology in which a plane flies overhead while a machine fires laser pulses toward the ground. These pulses strike objects and then bounce back, helping researchers map the topography of the landscape.
The area the researchers examined was inhabited during the Early Neolithic (beginning around 3700 B.C.) and the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1400 to 800 B.C.). However, evidence of settlement during the 2,000-year period between the two periods, known as the Middle Neolithic, has been scarce until now, according to a study published Thursday (April 25) in the journal. Antiquity.
Although years of agricultural plowing have damaged some of the monuments, lidar has revealed 3D models of the landscape filled with structures, including several “rare” monuments, which are long, narrow, broad earthen enclosures that may have had a ritual purpose. . This gathering is considered the largest in both Ireland and Britain, according to a statement.
“I started working in this area about 10 years ago as part of my doctoral thesis and the idea was originally that this was the place in Ireland with the largest and most extensive Bronze Age mound ruins in the country,” the study’s author said. James O'DriscollThe archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland told Live Science. “After many surveys, we slowly began to realize that it was not only the Bronze Age, but there were also a lot of Neolithic monuments. Around 2014, a local resident identified one of these monuments, and that's all we knew before LiDAR.” reconnaissance.”
The new lidar survey revealed four more, “which is why it's a very important discovery and it was something we didn't think would come out, because groups of monuments don't exist in Ireland,” O'Driscoll said. “You might have six of them in Britain, but in Ireland there are only about 20 known monuments and they exist in isolation.”
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While most of the five range in size between 492 and 656 feet (150 and 200 meters), the largest spans approximately 1,312 feet (400 meters), according to the study.
Considering that people created these monuments in a time before bulldozers and excavators were invented, it is impressive, to say the least.
“Because this one [were built during the] “There were no metal tools in the Neolithic, and they probably used wooden shovels. This shows the amount of resources, time and effort that went into building it, because this is a large settlement,” O'Driscoll said.
Archaeologists believe the relics may have served several purposes, including an association with “major solar events,” agriculture, and “pathways of the dead,” according to the statement.
For example, four of the monuments are facing towards the “Rising Sun”. Summer Solstice“, which represents the peak of the growing season, according to the study.
O'Driscoll said these massive monuments were likely intended for the dead. “Although we do not know the actual rituals that took place there, the designs suggest that they may have been used either as processional routes for mourning or as a means of transporting the dead to heaven.”
He added that the antiquities “help us understand the lifestyles of these Neolithic people, who were the first generation of farmers.” “We now have a better understanding of the importance of agriculture in these communities, which is quickly becoming central to their lives.”
The researchers next plan to analyze soil samples from the site to get a better understanding of the animals and plants that were there during the Early Neolithic.
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