The value of history - Keys to ages gift-wrapped in time

IF YOU say something was active in 1,200 BC, it is difficult to get your head around the absolute immensity of the time gap; when you say something or someone was active 3,207 years ago, it becomes even more difficult.

Something as remote and distant as an active community from more than 3,000 years ago challenges our ability to comprehend that we are part of the same continuum. That challenge is so difficult that some people have taken comfort in the belief that humanity was created at 2.30 on a Tuesday — or was it eight o’clock on a Thursday? — about 2,300 years ago.

If you try to define the gap in terms of lifetimes, generations or even the briefest consideration of the range of human achievement, it is bound to lead to a conclusion that a single lifetime is a terribly transient, fluttering thing; the tiniest trembling in an immense project.

The confirmation yesterday of the discovery of an extensive Bronze Age hill fort, by archaeologists from University College Cork, once again challenges us to try to imagine, and be satisfied with, the scale of our existence in the history of the world.

That the huge structure built at Knockavilla, on the northern side of Innishannon in Co Cork in about 1,200 BC, was built in a very short space of time indicates that the hundreds of builders involved felt under threat from their neighbours. That the archaeologists, directed by Professor William O’Brien, can confirm that the hill fort was attacked and burned shortly after its completion confirms that insecurity and conflict are constant themes for humanity.

It is unlikely that the occupants of the fort imagined that their descendants in neighbouring Limerick would qualify for the All-Ireland hurling final in 2007, nor is it likely that they imagined electricity, internal combustion engines, cyberspace, multiculturalism or even Paris Hilton’s dog’s day wear.

But then, that is one of the great gifts a study of history can bestow: enough amazing facts to stir even the most languid imaginations. And how reassuring it is to realise that 11,363 students took it in this year’s leaving certificate, an increase of 6.5% over last year.