The first book in nearly a century to explore and satisfactorily explain how and when the Irish people came into being, now available in B-format paperback.

This book draws on the wealth of new evidence for Bronze Age burials, settlements, and landscapes to explore the construction of social relationships and community identities during this period.

This little book has become a classic. Re-issued yet again with revisions and colour pictures, it provides an excellent introduction to stone circles, including Stonehenge, and shows how we are gradually coming to an understanding of their significance.

'Astonishing and compelling' Bernard Cornwell 'Replete with witches, human sacrifice, Greek fire and funeral orgies... one of the most thrilling works of archaeological detective work I have ever read' William Dalrymple, FT

The Irish Neolithic has been dominated by the study of megalithic tombs, but the defining element of Irish settlement evidence is the rectangular timber Early Neolithic house, the numbers of which have more than quadrupled in the last ten years.