Dr. Muiris O’Sullivan

Feed working has taken place and, you know, flint working has been found, etc. But really, you would have thought that something as enormous as these great mounds and the work involved in them would have involved quite a large workforce of some kind. And indeed, people to oversee that, all of which seems to suggest, you know, some sort of intensive settlement of some kind.

Feed working has taken place and, you know, flint working has been found, etc. But really, you would have thought that something as enormous as these great mounds and the work involved in them would have involved quite a large workforce of some kind. And indeed, people to oversee that, all of which seems to suggest, you know, some sort of intensive settlement of some kind.

But there's really no evidence of this settlement. We don't see anything like a village or... You know, it's hard to know. So some people have explained this by saying that perhaps it was nomadic. In other words, that a lot of the people who worked at Newgrange or were buried at Newgrange, something, may have lived somewhere else.

But there's really no evidence of this settlement. We don't see anything like a village or... You know, it's hard to know. So some people have explained this by saying that perhaps it was nomadic. In other words, that a lot of the people who worked at Newgrange or were buried at Newgrange, something, may have lived somewhere else.

But there's really no evidence of this settlement. We don't see anything like a village or... You know, it's hard to know. So some people have explained this by saying that perhaps it was nomadic. In other words, that a lot of the people who worked at Newgrange or were buried at Newgrange, something, may have lived somewhere else.

These may have been traditional places to which they brought the dead or something like that. It's very tricky. It's very difficult to know. Of course... We assumed there were farmers, or there was certainly a farming economy underlying this massive output, because farming had come to Ireland maybe 600 or 700 years earlier before the tombs in the eastern part of Ireland were built.

These may have been traditional places to which they brought the dead or something like that. It's very tricky. It's very difficult to know. Of course... We assumed there were farmers, or there was certainly a farming economy underlying this massive output, because farming had come to Ireland maybe 600 or 700 years earlier before the tombs in the eastern part of Ireland were built.

These may have been traditional places to which they brought the dead or something like that. It's very tricky. It's very difficult to know. Of course... We assumed there were farmers, or there was certainly a farming economy underlying this massive output, because farming had come to Ireland maybe 600 or 700 years earlier before the tombs in the eastern part of Ireland were built.

The ones in County Sligo in the west, like Carrowmore and Carrowkeel, they were built a couple of centuries earlier, or they certainly started a few centuries earlier.

The ones in County Sligo in the west, like Carrowmore and Carrowkeel, they were built a couple of centuries earlier, or they certainly started a few centuries earlier.

The ones in County Sligo in the west, like Carrowmore and Carrowkeel, they were built a couple of centuries earlier, or they certainly started a few centuries earlier.

But it was really in the context of this arrival of farming and the spread of farming through Ireland and the consolidation of farming within Ireland that the megalithic tombs emerged and particularly then the spectacular ones, the passage tombs. The interesting thing is that one of the ways that we know a little bit about them is through DNA research.

But it was really in the context of this arrival of farming and the spread of farming through Ireland and the consolidation of farming within Ireland that the megalithic tombs emerged and particularly then the spectacular ones, the passage tombs. The interesting thing is that one of the ways that we know a little bit about them is through DNA research.

But it was really in the context of this arrival of farming and the spread of farming through Ireland and the consolidation of farming within Ireland that the megalithic tombs emerged and particularly then the spectacular ones, the passage tombs. The interesting thing is that one of the ways that we know a little bit about them is through DNA research.

One particular skull fragment from Newgrange has allowed geneticists to build a sort of a profile of the individual, a genetic profile of the individual. And it would appear that this person was related to some people from the Caramore tombs and also people who were found at Millen Bay and County Downe. It's a bit of mobility there.

One particular skull fragment from Newgrange has allowed geneticists to build a sort of a profile of the individual, a genetic profile of the individual. And it would appear that this person was related to some people from the Caramore tombs and also people who were found at Millen Bay and County Downe. It's a bit of mobility there.

One particular skull fragment from Newgrange has allowed geneticists to build a sort of a profile of the individual, a genetic profile of the individual. And it would appear that this person was related to some people from the Caramore tombs and also people who were found at Millen Bay and County Downe. It's a bit of mobility there.

Yeah, which suggests mobility and perhaps also a sort of a stratum in society that may have been operating or interlinking with each other rather than with society at large. Some people have suggested it was an ability or something like that, but it's difficult to know. But they are slightly elusive otherwise, you know.

Yeah, which suggests mobility and perhaps also a sort of a stratum in society that may have been operating or interlinking with each other rather than with society at large. Some people have suggested it was an ability or something like that, but it's difficult to know. But they are slightly elusive otherwise, you know.

Yeah, which suggests mobility and perhaps also a sort of a stratum in society that may have been operating or interlinking with each other rather than with society at large. Some people have suggested it was an ability or something like that, but it's difficult to know. But they are slightly elusive otherwise, you know.