Archaeological excavations at Belderrig were initiated by Graeme Warren, School of Archaeology,

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, Ireland, after visiting the site in 2003 with its discoverer, archaeologist Seamas Caulfield.

Belderrig Béal Deirg (anglicized as Belderg or Belderrig) is a Gaeltacht village and townland in County Mayo, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopoli ...

is a small village on the North Mayo coast within the

Céide Fields The Céide Fields () is an archaeological site on the north County Mayo coast in the west of Ireland, about northwest of Ballycastle. The site has been described as the most extensive Neolithic site in Ireland and is claimed to contain the old ...

complex, a prehistoric landscape of

field systems The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature. Field systems by region Czech Repub ...

and related domestic and ritual structures dating to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The excavations took place directly on the low cliff on the east side of Belderrig Harbour by a large erosion scar, and continued uphill. The excavations uncovered a series of Mesolithic platforms and stony layers, with Mesolithic activity dating from around 4500 cal. BC, with a range of dates into the Neolithic, with a final date of around 2500 cal. BC. As well as the Mesolithic stony platforms and layers, the excavations uncovered a series of pits, and prehistoric field walls related to the Céide Fields complex. The stone tool assemblage is dominated by vein

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

artefacts, with a smaller amount of flint and siltstone.

References

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External links

Analysis of the quartz lithics from the Belderrig site
Mesolithic sites of Europe Neolithic sites of Europe Archaeological sites in County Mayo Prehistoric sites in Ireland Buildings and structures completed in the 4th millennium BC