Archaeology

The islands are formed of rock regarded amongst Western Europe’s most ancient – from six hundred million to two thousand million years old. Granitoid gneiss is extremely hard and erodes very slowly. Magical rock formations, deep caves and jagged cliffs have been designed by thousands of years of thunderous seas and storms.

Midlandian glacial action (20,000 to 10,000 BC) probably deposited a marine till or drift highly potent in calcium carbonate therefore making the islands fertile. This ice sheet may well have been the architect of St. Patrick’s Bridge – a fascinating ridge of rock and shingle curving back from the northern most point of the Little Saltee to the mainland east of Kilmore Quay. Perhaps a glacial moraine. Many other legends (geological and fantasy) do the rounds of the local fishermen’s hostelries! Whatever the correct reason for this tidal conundrum, it offers ‘the’ most spectacular designs of waves and surf throughout all seasons.

We are uncertain as to the actual date of man's first habitation of the islands but it is probable that people were living there as long ago as 3500 to 2000 BC. A crude flint dating from Neolithic times was unearthed (1957) on the Great Saltee giving provenance to new Stone Age Man. Their way of life was largely agricultural. They were blessed with a temperate climate, fertile soil and an abundance of fish and sea bird's eggs.