in
The Burren County Clare hosts the oldest-known evidence of human activity in Ireland. The patella of a bear, which was subject to butchering close to the time of death, was found in the
Alice and Gwendoline Cave, near Edenvale House,
Clarecastle. The bone features a number of linear-cut marks, and has been dated to circa 10,500 BC, from the
Paleolithic era. This discovery, publicized in 2017, pushed back Ireland's occupation by 2,500 years—what was previously regarded as the oldest site of occupation was the
Mesolithic site of
Mount Sandel,
County Londonderry. This bear bone was discovered in 1903 during an archaeological excavation but was not studied until over a century later. There was a
Neolithic civilization in the Clare area—the name of the peoples is unknown, but the
Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient
dolmen: single-chamber
megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more
upright stones. Clare is one of the richest places in Ireland for these tombs. The most noted one is in
The Burren area; it is known as
Poulnabrone dolmen, which translates to "hole of sorrows". The remains of the people inside the tomb have been excavated and dated to 3800 BC. Within his map, Ptolemy names the
Gaelic tribes inhabiting it and the areas in which they resided; in the area of Clare, he identified a tribe known as the
Gangani. Historians have found the tribes on the west of Ireland the most difficult to identify with known peoples; however, historians
William Camden and
Charles O'Conor speculated a possible connection between the Gangani and the
Concani, one of the eleven tribes in the confederacy of the
Cantabri in the northern part of the
Iberian Peninsula. at Roughan Hill near
Corofin, County Clare, Ireland During the
Early Middle Ages, the area was part of the
Kingdom of Connacht ruled by the
Uí Fiachrach Aidhne. In the Middle Ages, it was annexed to the
Kingdom of Munster to be settled by the
Dalcassians. It was renamed Thomond, meaning North Munster.
Brian Boru became a leader from here during this period, perhaps the most noted
High King of Ireland. From 1118 onwards the
Kingdom of Thomond was in place as its own petty kingdom, ruled by the
O'Brien clan. After the
Norman invasion of Ireland,
Thomas de Clare, established the short-lived Norman lordship of Thomond. His son
Richard de Clare was killed at the
Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318 during
Edward Bruce's invasion.
English colonization nor
Munster In 1543, during the
Tudor conquest of Ireland,
Murrough O'Brien, by
surrender and regrant to
Henry VIII, became
Earl of Thomond within Henry's
Kingdom of Ireland.
Henry Sidney as
Lord Deputy of Ireland responded to the
Desmond Rebellion by creating the
presidency of Connaught in 1569 and
presidency of Munster in 1570. He transferred Thomond from Munster to Connaught, which he
shired, Thomond becoming County Clare. About 1600, Clare was removed from the presidency of Connaught and made a presidency in its own right under the Earl of Thomond. When
Henry O'Brien, 5th Earl of Thomond died in 1639, Lord Deputy
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford decreed Clare should return to the presidency of Munster, but the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms delayed this until
the Restoration of 1660. Clare's
county nickname is the
Banner County, for which various origins have been suggested: the banners captured by
Clare's Dragoons at the
Battle of Ramillies; or the banner of
Catholic emancipation raised by
Daniel O'Connell's victory in the
1828 County Clare by-election that led to Parliament passing the
Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
Scattery Island, in the
Mouth of the Shannon off the Clare coast, was transferred to
Limerick Corporation and the
county of the city of Limerick after the
dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century. It was assigned to County Clare after the
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. Under the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, part of the judicial county of Galway (Drummaan, Inishcaltra North and Mountshannon electoral divisions) was transferred to county Clare. This area contains the village of
Mountshannon on the north-western shore of
Lough Derg. ==Governance and politics==