Bronze Age Ireland: the country’s golden era

In the early Bronze Age, Ireland had more than its fair share of gold. Was it imported, or are there forgotten deposits of gold?

Chemical investigations suggest that raw material for Ireland’s prehistoric gold hoard may have been sourced from near neighbours. An alternative explanation is that there are forgotten Irish deposits rich in gold. Visit the National Museum on Kildare Street, Dublin, and you will be struck by the sheer number of gold objects. The desire for this precious metal was strong in prehistoric, pagan Ireland. The array of gold ornaments includes collars, torcs and bracelets, mostly from the Bronze Age, 2,200 to 800 BC.

“It is highly significant in European terms and disproportionately large given the size of the country,” says Mary Cahill, curator of the museum’s Bronze Age collection. Yet Ireland is not renowned for its gold deposits, so where this gold came from has puzzled archaeologists.

Rob Chapman has spent hours standing in ice-cold streams and rivers across Ireland panning for gold. A geologist at Leeds University, he got the gold bug working in a South African mine. He helped collect natural gold grains from across Ireland to compare to the museum gold. [...] The Irish Times

Link 2 (Ór - Ireland's Gold - Photo Gallery)