Céide Fields

The Céide Fields ( Irish: Achaidh Chéide ) are among the largest Neolithic field systems in the world, on the northwest coast of Ireland in County Mayo. You are 30 km north of Ballina on the cliffs.

Excavations

In the excavation site, the sunken walls of property boundaries were uncovered and its course marked by white stakes.

In 1993, a pyramid-shaped visitor center was opened at the foot of a hill. In nearby Belderberg is a research center.

Discovery history

In 1930 the teacher Patrick Caulfield from Belderrig discovered during peat cutting deep under the peat regularly extending wall remains. His son Seamus Caulfield later studied archeology and made the reference in the 1970s, known scientifically. In the investigations field complexes, parts of houses came (eg, a Bronze Age round house with fire place) and megalithic tombs to light, which were hidden by the growth of the high moor. In the research, the walls are being explored under the peat -destructively with up to four meters long boring bars. The full extent of the plant is not yet registered.

Interpretation

5000 to 6000 years ago there was a settlement here with fields. The Neolithic inhabitants lived apparently on isolated farms, which were separated from each other by straight walls. Presumably, they formed a well-organized community of farmers and pastoralists, who divided the land into uniform blocks and large areas of forest cleared.