Editing Lough Allen (section)

==Prehistory==
Significant traces of Mesolithic inhabitation have been found around the lakeshore, with hundreds of stone tools collected.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|title=The early prehistory in the west of Ireland: Investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland|date=2006|url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/mlitt_mesolithic_west_ireland_chap_5.html|access-date=8 April 2017|archive-date=9 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409111006/http://www.lithicsireland.ie/mlitt_mesolithic_west_ireland_chap_5.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="lithicsireland.ie">{{cite journal|last1=Driscoll|first1=Killian|last2=Menuge|first2=Julian|last3=O'Keeffe|first3=Emmett|title=New materials, traditional practices: a Mesolithic silicified dolomite toolkit from Lough Allen, Ireland|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy|date=2014|volume=114C|pages=1–34 |doi=10.1353/ria.2014.0005 |s2cid=245847658 |url=http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2014_new_materials_traditional_practices_mesolithic_silicified_dolomite_toolkt_lough_allen_ireland_abstract.html|access-date=8 April 2017|archive-date=9 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409110913/http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2014_new_materials_traditional_practices_mesolithic_silicified_dolomite_toolkt_lough_allen_ireland_abstract.html|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In total almost 1000 stone tools were collected during a set of surveys by [[Killian Driscoll]], and 95% were formed on silicified dolomite, which outcrops locally. The remaining 5% were formed from flint, chert and quartz, along with the
shale/mudstone and basalt ground/polished axes. The majority of the stone tools are characteristic of the Later Mesolithic, with possible evidence for the Early Mesolithic and limited evidence for Neolithic activity.<ref name="lithicsireland.ie"/> The assemblage includes a number of stone axes and axe roughouts, and the roughouts represent the first recorded, by the [[Irish Stone Axe Project]], as found in a lakeside context in Ireland, with most previously provenanced examples coming from axe quarry sites.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cooney|first1=G|last2=Mandal|first2=S|title=The Irish Stone Axe Project: Monograph I|date=1998|publisher=Wordwell|location=Bray|isbn=1869857232}}</ref>