Engagingly written and packed with illustrations, Early Ireland offers an authoritative introduction to the riches of Irish prehistory - a span of eight thousand years from the end of the Ice Age to the first centuries of the Christian era. It provides a clear account of the development of Irish society from its beginnings as a postglacial culture of hunters and gatherers, through the glory of its golden age in the second millennium BC, to the technological advances stimulated by the discovery of iron and, in the last centuries BC, the growth of a Celtic art style of unrivalled power and individuality. Many of the developments in research and excavation detailed in the book were carried out or initiated by the author himself. In Early Ireland he encapsulates in inimitable style the fruits of more than three decades spent imparting his love and knowledge of Ireland, its people and its antiquities.

Older than Stonehenge, Mycenae and the Egyptian pyramids, the huge megalithic tomb of Newgrange in Ireland stands as a testament to the achievements of our Stoneage forebears over 5000 years ago. This is an account of that structure.