University of Galway

This course introduces students to some of the most significant events, changes, and movements in the history of Ireland and Britain from the late centuries BC to the 10th century AD.  The topics addressed include the insular Celtic migrations and settlements of the early medieval period (including the migrations from Britain to Brittany and from Ireland to Scotland, and the Irish settlements in Wales and in Man), the christianiaztion of the West (of Ireland, of western Scotland from Ireland, and of northern England from Scotland), and the incursions, settlement, and impact of the Vikings.

This is an introductory Italian language course offered to visiting students who are at the University of Galway for one semester only.

This course examines some of the cultural consequences of the coming of Christianity to medieval Ireland, especially in the area of reading and writing. Topics include the early history of Christianity in Ireland, the earliest writings from the Celtic-speaking world, religious literature in Irish and Latin, the contribution of the Irish to Christianity and learning abroad, and the impact of Christianity and the new learning on Irish vernacular culture.

This course is an introduction to the prehistoric communities who inhabited Ireland, Europe, and Western Asia from about 150,000 BC to AD 400. Archaeologists divide this long period of time into the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age), Bronze Age and Iron Age. Students begin with the earliest modern human inhabitants of Europe and Western Asia, their hunter-gatherer way of life, their art and their relationship to the Neanderthal communities who preceded them. They look at evidence for the first hunter-gatherers who settled in Ireland and later the settlements and rituals of the first communities to develop agriculture and build megalithic tombs. Students then examine changes in how these communities organized themselves and their rituals over thousands of years, including their adoption of bronze and iron metalworking.