Depends on the storyteller. Some take the Tuatha De Dannan story back to just 300 to 500 BC, but that was iron age time which seems to conflict with Tuatha De Danann stories. Bronze age may have only been a few hundred years before iron age, but most stories I have heard seem to go back to between 1200 and 2000 BC. The stone cairns seem to be mainly 3000 to 4000 BC, though cairns and stone circles seem to have been made or rebuilt into early AD years. I remember seeing some articles of stone cairns in North Africa estimated at around 200 AD. The cairn remains on the hills above Ballygawley, Co. Sligo, date around 200 BC to 300 BC too, I believe.
"...this becomes confusing when we consider that most of these stone cairns were built well before Tuatha De Danann arrival on this island times" That is confusing to me, John. What do you think the time line was?
I think the confusion happens if we try too hard trying to pigeon hole the Tuatha De Dannan people into a set historical parts of the jigsaw puzzle. No archaeologist or anthropologist is going to dig up an ancient skeleton and say ‘that’s the remains of a Tuatha De Dannan person’, but that’s the level of the Tuatha De Dannan myth. Perhaps there was no physical existence of them within humanity. However, there is a lot of past culture applied to the Tuatha De Dannan legends. The culture I hear applied seems to strong set them into the bronze age, maybe 1500 to 2000 BC. I will be covering this in great depth when I get going with my ‘First Harvest’ series from probably early July until maybe towrds end of August.
Thanks for the info.
Oh! I had no idea that the myth went that far back!
Depends on the storyteller. Some take the Tuatha De Dannan story back to just 300 to 500 BC, but that was iron age time which seems to conflict with Tuatha De Danann stories. Bronze age may have only been a few hundred years before iron age, but most stories I have heard seem to go back to between 1200 and 2000 BC. The stone cairns seem to be mainly 3000 to 4000 BC, though cairns and stone circles seem to have been made or rebuilt into early AD years. I remember seeing some articles of stone cairns in North Africa estimated at around 200 AD. The cairn remains on the hills above Ballygawley, Co. Sligo, date around 200 BC to 300 BC too, I believe.
"...this becomes confusing when we consider that most of these stone cairns were built well before Tuatha De Danann arrival on this island times" That is confusing to me, John. What do you think the time line was?
I think the confusion happens if we try too hard trying to pigeon hole the Tuatha De Dannan people into a set historical parts of the jigsaw puzzle. No archaeologist or anthropologist is going to dig up an ancient skeleton and say ‘that’s the remains of a Tuatha De Dannan person’, but that’s the level of the Tuatha De Dannan myth. Perhaps there was no physical existence of them within humanity. However, there is a lot of past culture applied to the Tuatha De Dannan legends. The culture I hear applied seems to strong set them into the bronze age, maybe 1500 to 2000 BC. I will be covering this in great depth when I get going with my ‘First Harvest’ series from probably early July until maybe towrds end of August.
In Britanny, faeries are also supposed to steal babies!
Thank you for verifying and posting that. In Britanny too adds a lot more meaning and I think the ‘fairy’ word may have originated around their too.