Archaeologists uncover 5,700-year-old Neolithic house in north Cork

Irish Examiner ^ | Wednesday, August 26, 2020 | Sean O'Riordan

[centurion316]

I am assuming that the stone walls in the picture are not neolithic, but later. Am I wrong?

[Red Badger]

Pottery, stone tools and grain from the same period were also discovered at the site.

So, they had whiskey....................

[PistolPaknMama]

Weeolithic

LOL!!

[PistolPaknMama]

Interesting disc object with a hole in the middle. What could that have been used for?

[SunkenCiv]

Necklace, maybe for the head of the village.

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Ya build with what ya have. Post-Roman construction in Britain was wattle-and-daub walls and thatch roofs, that may have been in introduction by the Anglo-Saxons, but was likely commonplace for a really, really long time, and not just in the British Isles. When your house gets burned down a few times, and/or you have some cold winters, stone looks like a better idea. Also, the remains of mud huts tend to be a bit ephemeral -- more of them at the time, but the remains are more fragile as well as easily missed.

[centurion316]

I understand that point, the geometry is really what I was wondering about, rectilineal vice round.

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] Unlike the prior periods of the Stone Age, people in the Neolithic Age mostly lived in settled societies. Because of this, they no longer lived in impermanent structures like huts and caves, but, for the most part, actually built homes. Homes were usually built around a central hearth, or stone or brick fireplace, which was used to warm the house and to cook. At the beginning of the period, homes were usually one room, but towards the end, they were often multi-roomed, sometimes even having two stories. These homes, often called long houses, were usually rectangular, no matter how many rooms they had. Homes were made primarily of mud brick, which was simply mud formed into bricks and dried. While mud brick was not as sturdy or permanent as other materials, it was cheap and easy to make since mud was easy to find. Mud brick homes sometimes had wood frames depending on the location, but were mostly made from mud brick with just one door and no windows. [/snip]

https://study.com/academy/lesson/neolithic-age-homes-architecture.html

[centurion316]

Thanks

[minnesota_bound]

A little pointing up and it would look good as new.

[SunkenCiv]

lol

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The default material humans build with is wood but in places where wood is scarce they tend to use stone to save the wood for other uses. Wattle and dab does not require really big trees so that is used where there is an abundance of low scrub. Also Ireland is a tad bit on the damp side so building the lower portion of the house with stone would help prevent rot.

They didn't have nice big rot resistant chestnut trees to build with as they did in the US.