ABSTRACT
Knowledge of metallurgy is an important adjunct to any society and in Ireland it appears that the introduction of metal-working can be attributed to the arrival of new peoples and the establishment of new societies. Metallurgy is one of the facets of these new societies; single-grave burial (especially in the eastern part of the country) is another. As the origin of the single-grave burial rite ultimately goes back to that great complex of single-grave cultures of northern continental Europe it is the rise and regeneration of single-grave ‘cultures’ that is the theme of study for most of Ireland during most of the ‘Bronze’ Age. These single-grave societies, especially the more metallurgically advanced Food Vessel and Urn people, had an abundance of metal artifacts and large-scale metal production must have been taking place. As the Bronze Age proceeded industrialization increased. Towards the end the increase became more marked and the culmination was the revolution of the eighth–seventh centuries B.c.
