The Age of Gold & Bronze
Metal-prospectors reach Ireland about 2500 BC. The copper mines they open at Ross Island in Killarney are among the oldest in north-west Europe. Blended with Cornish tin it becomes bronze. The rivers hold gold as well, and for a thousand years Ireland is one of Europe's great goldworking centres: lunulae, sun-discs, torcs. A good deal of it was buried for gods whose names are lost.
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When was the Age of Gold & Bronze in Ireland?
The Age of Gold & Bronze spans 2,500 BC to 501 BC in this atlas. Metal-prospectors reach Ireland about 2500 BC.
Who ruled Ireland during the Age of Gold & Bronze?
Bronze Age Ireland held the whole island in this atlas's reckoning. Miners, smiths and goldworkers. Bronze Age Ireland produced more gold ornament than almost anywhere in prehistoric Europe — lunulae, torcs and sun-discs.
What is a lesser-known fact about the Age of Gold & Bronze?
There is more prehistoric gold from Ireland in museums than from almost any other country in western Europe — yet no one has ever found the mother lode. Where Bronze Age Ireland got all its gold is still an unsolved scientific puzzle.
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