During the last glacial period, and up until about 10,000 BC, most of Ireland was periodically covered in

ice. Sea levels were lower and Ireland, like Great Britain, formed part of continental Europe. By 16,000
BC, rising sea levels due to ice melting caused Ireland to become separated from Great Britain.[14] Later,
around 6000 BC, Great Britain itself became separated from continental Europe.[15] The earliest
evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC, demonstrated by a butchered bear bone
found in a cave in County Clare.[12] It is not until about 8000 BC, however, that more sustained
occupation of the island has been shown, with evidence for Mesolithic communities around the
island.[16] These Mesolithic communities lived as hunter-gatherers across the island until about 4000
BC.

Some time before 4000 BC, Neolithic settlers arrived introducing cereal cultivars, domesticated animals
such as cattle and sheep, large timber building, and stone monuments.[17] The earliest evidence for
farming in Ireland or Great Britain is from Ferriter's Cove, Co.Kerry, where a flint knife, cattle bones and
a sheep's tooth were carbon-dated to c. 4350 BC.[18] Field systems were developed in different parts of
Ireland, including at the Céide Fields, that has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day
Tyrawley. An extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[19] consisted of small divisions
separated by dry-stone walls. The fields were farmed for several centuries between 3500 BC and 3000
BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.