Céide Fields Bog
County Mayo, Ireland
The Céide Fields comprises a Neolithic landscape consisting of megalithic burial monuments, dwelling houses and enclosures within an integrated system of stone walls defining fields, which are spread over 12 km² of north Mayo.
The Céide Fields were constructed around 5,700 years ago by Neolithic farmers. This post-glacial landscape was dominated by woodlands, grasslands and heaths in a climate that was relatively warm and dry. Archaeological evidence from survey and excavations has been supplemented and confirmed by a programme of radiocarbon dating pine stumps preserved in the peat throughout North Mayo (Caulfield et al. 1988) and also by extensive palaeoecological research by Molloy and O'Connell (1995, O'Connell and Molloy 2001).
Many of the features are preserved intact beneath blanket peat that is over 4m deep in places. The significance of the site lies in the fact that it is the most extensive Stone Age monument in the world and the oldest enclosed landscape in Europe. The blanket bog landscape is of immense importance for its natural habitat value as well as for its illustration of environmental and climate history.
Text courtesy of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, see the
website for more information about this site.