The Ronaldsway Culture was the way of life of a

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

people on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. Sometimes referred to as Manx Ronaldsway, it dates from the later

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 from the third millennium BC, but more precise dating is a matter of debate. The culture, known only from the Isle of Man, is named after the archaeological remains of a settlement excavated at

Ronaldsway Airport Ronaldsway () is a settlement in the parish of Malew in the south of the Isle of Man, between the village of Ballasalla and the town of Castletown, Isle of Man, Castletown. Features It is notable as the location of Isle of Man Airport and histo ...

(now the

Isle of Man Airport Isle of Man Airport (Manx language, Manx: ''Purt Aer Vannin'', also known as Ronaldsway Airport) is the main civilian airport on the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island at Ronaldsway near Castletown, Isle of Man, Castletown, ...

) in 1939 during a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

expansion, where a large quantity of material was found.Timothy Darvill
''Ronaldsway Culture''
in ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology'', (Oxford University Press, 2002) These remains were later dated to between 2,200 and 1,900 BC. The culture is characterized by deep jars called Ronaldsway-style pots, stone axes with butts which have been roughened, and unusual flint tools; where it meets other cultures there have been finds of shared monuments, including

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s, passage and entrance graves, and

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

s. It also has structures entirely of its own. The culture's typical polished axe has been met with nowhere else and shows an especially marked insularity. It has been suggested that the distinctive characteristics of the Ronaldsway culture mean that during at least part of the late Neolithic age the people of the Isle of Man developed independently from those in Britain and Ireland.P. J. Davey, J. B. Innes, 'Innovation, continuity and insular development in the Isle of Man', in W. H. Waldren and J. A. Ensenyat (eds.) ''World Islands in Prehistory: International Insular Investigations'' (V Deia International Conference of Prehistory, BAR, International Series) (Oxford: Archaeopress) pp. 52-54

Notes

External links

Ronaldsway culture
at archaetis.com Neolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in England History of the Isle of Man

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