Farming and woodland dynamics in Ireland during the neolithic

The palaeoecological evidence for Neolithic farming and its impact on the natural environment and, in particular, woodland cover and composition is reviewed. Particular attention is paid to mid-western Ireland, where the evidence from detailed radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams provides the basis for reconstructing Neolithic farming and assessing the associated impact on the natural environment. Archaeological evidence is considered, including data from Céide Fields, northern Mayo, which includes megalithic tombs, large circular enclosures and a pre-bog stone-wall field system that extends over more than 1000ha. It is shown that at Céide Fields and Garrynagran, c. 16km to the south, intensive Neolithic farming continued over at least five centuries (until c. 5200 cal. BP) with complete deforestation at a local level and probably at a wider regional level. This was followed by an almost equally long period during which farming activity was negligible and woodland regenerated in the northern Mayo region. Towards the end of this period (late Neolithic / early Bronze Age), pine colonised peat surfaces on a wide scale (c. 4700 cal. BP) and there is evidence of a renewal of farming activity. A similar sequence of development is reported from western Connemara; Though landnam was of shorter duration here (approximately three centuries), Neolithic farming activity appears to have been more localised and there is no evidence that farming involved construction of elaborate field systems. The evidence for Neolithic impact in Ireland as a whole is reviewed mainly on the basis of 34 pollen diagrams, which offer a palynological record that is detailed enough to allow us to confidently reconstruct human impact. We argue that Neolithic farming in Ireland is very much concentrated in the earlier Neolithic, i.e. between the Elm Decline at c. 5800 cal. BP and 5200 cal. BP, and that the later Neolithic is characterised by minimal levels of farming and woodland regeneration in which yew (Taxus) played an important role in several places, particularly in western Ireland. We also consider field systems in the Irish Neolithic and palynological evidence for woodland instability and Neolithic farming in pre-Elm Decline contexts (late Atlantic period). The evidence for instability is widespread and convincing, but it is often unclear whether the disturbances are the result of Neolithic farming or natural factors.