Summary: Means of Transport in Bronze and Iron Ages
Key dates:
Great changes took place all over Europe in this period including advances in transport. Boats were probably fairly primitive canoes made from dug out tree trunks and were certainly needed by crannog dwellers.
Towards the end of the Bronze Age the harnessed horse appeared and there is evidence of wagons with wheels. The earliest wheels were wooden block ones.
Many bridle bits have been found, often in pairs. This suggests that horses were used in paired draught or even to pull chariots.
At Corlea in Co Longford there is a section of well preserved track way dating from this period. This track is 2kms [1.25miles] long. It was made of oak planks which were about four metres long and placed edge to edge on longitudinal runners. This has been accurately dated by dendrochronology to 148BC. It was meant for wheeled vehicles. Whether this road was part of a wider communication system is unknown.
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