4000 years ago change was sparking in Ireland, a revolution was on the horizon, the age of metal was coming! Join Tristan Hughes as he traverses Ireland, exploring a golden age of transformation, Ireland’s Bronze Age.

Copper mining started in Ireland around 2400 BC, in the Chalcolithic, or copper age, the period between the end of the Stone Age and the Bronze age. Tristan climbs Mount Gabriel in County Cork to investigate Bronze Age Copper mines. Ireland’s ‘copper craze’ continued for generations, but it wasn’t just copper that was found here, they also mined for gold! Tristan explores the beautifully intricate golden Lunula. Special boats and trackways appeared all over Ireland connecting these new bronze age billionaires to the wider prehistoric world. Tristan visits one of these trackways at Craggaunowen before getting hands on helping out with daily life. One of the most extraordinary legacies of Bronze Age Ireland are Fulacht Fiadh or burnt mounds, which are most probably ceremonial cooking sites, and Tristan gets to see one in action. But life in Bronze Age Ireland wasn’t all idyllic countryside cooking - by the middle of the Bronze Age defensive hillforts began to arise. Rathgall Hillfort epitomises this, it was a centre of defense, community, trade and the forging of weapons, tools and artefacts.

Fancy visiting these places featured in the film?
Mount Gabriel: https://www.thewildatlanticway.com/sight/mount-gabriel/
National Museum of Ireland: https://www.museum.ie/en-ie/home
Craggaunowen: https://www.craggaunowen.ie/living-past-experience/crannog-lake-dwelling/
Rathgall Hill fort: https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/places/coolattin/rathgall_hillfort_in_south_west_county_wicklow
The Hill of Tara: https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/hill-of-tara/