Ireland: history to 1154

There is some debate about the date of the earliest human occupants of Ireland. Various sites, such as that at Larne, had suggested that a Mesolithic culture, based on hunting and fishing, was established by around 6000 BC. However, it is now thought that these hunting and fishing people may have been contemporary to the Neolithic communities and megalith builders, who arrived at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The Irish megalith builders developed the passage tomb, some of the most remarkable of which are found at Newgrange, where the main passage is aligned to the winter solstice. In the Bronze Age Ireland held an important position, trading gold ornaments, such as torques (armbands and bracelets), all over Europe.