Summary: Fields, Crops and Livestock
Key dates:
During the Bronze Age the farmers were still keeping cattle, sheep, goats, horses and dogs. They also grew barley and wheat. It is possible that the weed, corn spurry, which grew among the grain, was also harvested. The querns, both the saddle type and later the beehive, were widely used to grind the grain for bread making.
Cattle were regarded as a sign of wealth in the Iron Age and, as a result, there were many stories of cattle raids. In Ireland the grass was of good quality and a Roman writer described it thus: so luxuriant is the herbage, in quality both nutritious and savoury, that the cattle eat their fill in a small part of the day. There is evidence of these early field systems which can still be seen from aerial views in many parts.
At Larrybane on the north coast there is evidence of fishing for cod, Pollack and whiting. The animal bones found there indicate the types of animals around. There were a number of oxen, horses, red deer, pigs and sheep and goats.
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