SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENT IN GLENDALOUGH ... - Ian Cantwell

associated with Passage Grave art 36 . Map 2 shows the distribution of Pre-Christiansites as recorded by the Archaeological Inventory ofCounty Wicklow 37 and Stout 38 .Agriculture in this period was probably swidden based with tillage being based adjacentto the settlement and pastoral activities being conducted further away in outfields andmountains 39 . This type ofagriculture is based on the intensive use ofland with regularmanuring and seasonal fallow adjacent to the settlement with longer fallow periods thefurther away the inhabitants lived. The investment oflabour-time determined land useand productivityt", Evidence of cereal farming continues though without the sharpdecline of woodland (especially oak and ash) noted elsewhere. The relationshipbetween tree, bush and ferns remains cyclic indicating woodland clearance followed byabandonment and the growth of secondary woodland. In general hazel and birch arestable while alder and oak slowly decline.Iron AgeThe transition ofthe late Bronze Age to Early Iron age (C. 1,200-600BC) has provedto be difficult to interpret in the Archaeological record 41 and the record is poor inIreland. 42 This may be related to the decline in weather associated with the very shortwidth of tree rings in the dendrochronological record 43 . It is possible that naturalclimatic trends coupled with over-cultivation and increasing podzolisation contributedto pressure on agricultural land 44 . There was a large amount of bog oak in the360~I