ey are usually associated with the people who worked with bronze production and are almost always face the southwest.type of grave that puts in an appearance at this time is the Cist Grave. This is a simple grave for an individual. Most cists, on average measure internally about 80cms long and 50cms wide and may contain cremated bones or disarticulated bones. Sometimes the remains are whole and seem to have been bound up before internment. However more elaborate stone lined cists have been found, for instance at Keenoge in County Meath, they are found mostly in Ulster and Leinster and many of them are buried in cairns such as the Creevykeel Court Cairn that had been used over many generations. Stone circles, standing stones and ring forts are other features of the Bronze-age. The stone circles are thought to have been either astronomical sites or ritualistic sites, such as Beltany Stone Circle. They can have very tall stones or quite small ones, the circle can be singular or multiple. They are to be found mostly in Ulster or in Munster. Ring forts can be found all over the country and out - standing examples are Dun Aengus on Inishmore island, and the Grianan of Aileach which stands guard on a hill in Donegal overlooking the Foyle and Lough Swilly. Many but not all ring forts have associated souterains or underground rooms. Standing stones are solitary stones that vary in shape and size. Again they are found all over the island with some of them decorated or with Ogam writing as memorial to someone special. Most however are bare of any inscription and the reason for them can only be guessed at. Local people usually have a familiar name for them. The one which stands at Tara is called the Lia FГЎil or The Stone of Destiny. The supposed coronation stone of the High King of Ireland legend has it that if the rightful king of Ireland should touch it, it will call out. Recently there was public outrage when vandals attacked it with a hammer.
1.4 The Iron Age Period (The Celts)
Ireland's Iron Age is usually said to run from the end of the Bronze Age (around 500 BC) and continues until around 500 AD The overlap from Later Bronze Age to Early Iron Age reflects how society changed slowly and did not make a great leap of technology and culture from one period into another. Similarly, the end of the Iron Age extends into the Early Christian period in Ireland, and while great changes were taking place at that time, the technology used in farming and blacksmithing, cart making, etc. would have continued unchanged up to relatively modern times. 's Iron Age has it's origins in Europe where a culture known as the Halstatt was flourishing 800 BC for a couple of centuries. This was the time when the Celts came to Ireland - probably not peacefully but as an invading force. In a few hundred yea...
