There is a sound argument for renaming Europe’s late Bronze Age and early Iron Age the Wool Age because of the commodity’s importance in local and international trade.
In a paper entitled ‘How Wool Transformed Prehistoric Ireland’, Mark Haughton, from the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin (UCD) outlined how the arrival of sheep for wool profoundly changed Irish farming, as well as the natural environment and society.
Small Soay-type sheep were present in Ireland from the first introduction of farming in the Neolithic period of around 3000BC – which is associated with sites such as Newgrange – but these animals were kept primarily for meat, Haughton told the Agricultural History Society of Ireland (AHSI) conference in Leenane, Co Galway.
Sheep bred specifically for wool are believed to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia and genetic evidence indicates that they were brought to western Europe by herders who moved west from the steppes of Russia with their flocks, Haughton said.
The arrival of sheep for wool in Ireland at around 1500BC resulted in a major clearance of the country’s tree cover as farmers sought to expand their grazing ground.
While there is little evidence of wool itself from this period, the discovery of textile tools – such as loom weights and spindles – points to the adoption of the new material and its working, Haughton added.
Value
He stated that wool was highly valued and traded over long distances during the late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age.
He pointed out that an examination of the wool clothing found in a Danish burial from the around 2000BC found that 75% of the wool was sourced outside Denmark.
Away from trade, wool working impacted the country’s built environment and social structure, Haughton said.
It tied people to places where they had built enclosures for their sheep, he explained.
Meanwhile, there was also a social element – and even a gender element – to people working with sheep and working with wool, Haughton said.
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