The First Irish

Over 10,000 years ago, many believe Ireland was a place where hunter-gatherers roamed. A place where the earliest human communities exchanged prizes of the hunt and crafted primitive tools to aid their survival. But what if their interactions with each other were more sophisticated? What if hunter-gatherer is a misnomer?

In the episode of the Ancients, Tristan Hughes speaks to Professor Graeme Warren about Ireland's rich prehistoric archaeology to discover how the earliest communities lived their lives. What do we know about these first people who made the island of Ireland their home?

They also discuss how the remnants of Ireland’s distant Mesolithic past shed light on the shared practices between Ireland and other parts of Mesolithic Europe and how the Irish Sea played a significant role in the exchange of culture between those regions.

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