Neolithic Connections: Britain and Ireland

Whittle, A. (2025) ‘The politics of early Neolithic connectivity: Relations between Britain and Ireland’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, pp. 1–15. doi:10.1017/ppr.2025.3.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-prehistoric-society/article/politics-of-early-neolithic-connectivity-relations-between-britain-and-ireland/0B0E5B1E424EA093AF073EF4DCAA6BCB

Alasdair Whittle explores early Neolithic ties (4th millennium BC) between Britain and Ireland, proposing four key ideas about their connectivity, backed by archaeological and genetic evidence.

1. Ireland’s Neolithic people came mainly from Britain. Chronological data and shared material culture, like carinated bowl pottery and lithics, suggest western Britain as the source. Ancient DNA shows nearly identical genetic signatures, supporting this migration.

2. Intense interactions followed. Shared monuments (portal tombs, court tombs) and artifacts (porcellanite axes, Antrim flint) indicate strong, ongoing connections across the Irish Sea, unlike weaker continental links.

3. Connections grew over time. Starting in Ireland’s Early Neolithic II (c. 3800 BC), rapid monument construction (e.g., Poulnabrone portal tomb) and later enclosures show ties intensified, with aDNA suggesting intermarriage.

4. Political maintenance of ties. Whittle argues these links were "political," driven by social groups using a shared past to reinforce lineage and identity, contrasting with slower continental Neolithisation. This is seen in varied mortuary practices and kinship patterns.