具体描述
Archaeological excavations at Ross Island Mine in Killarney, Co. Kerry reveal importantant evidence for the beginnnings of the Bronze Age. New discoveries suggest that this was the first place where copper was produced in Ireland. Mining began here around 2400 BC, producing large amounts of a distinctive metal that circulated widely over the next 400 years. The strength of this production contributed greatly to an increasing use of metal in Ireland and Britain towards the end of the Neolithic. The wider significance of the site lies in links to an international Beaker culture, which was central to the spread of metallurgy in Atlantic Europe from around 2500 BC. This is also the first copper mine to be identified from the early medieval period in Ireland, when there was a golden age of metalworking.
