Belderrig is a small village on the North Mayo coast, and lies 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 Republ ...

and related domestic and ritual structures dating to the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

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

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

, Ireland, after visiting the site in 2003 with its discoverer, the archaeologist Seamas Caulfield. 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 atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

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 4th-millennium BC architecture