Chapter IX: Part I (4)

Fig. 45 represents a cranium of the _Crom-adharach_ or Crumpled-horn, which, judging by its remains, appears to have been the most numerous variety. This magnificent head of a bull of the race is “in point of size as fine a specimen as has yet been found: it is twenty-three and a-half inches long, and eight inches across the forehead, which has been broken in by some blunt instrument, probably in slaughtering. The horn-cores are not so large at the base, but more than twice as long as those of the “straight-horned” race; they are curved considerably inwards, so that the tips of the horns, when perfect, must have approached much nearer than their bases. Each horn-core was, when perfect, about eleven inches long.” This head, together with many similar crania, came from the crannog of Lough Gur, county Limerick.

Cranium of the Gearr-adharach, or Short-horned Ox.

Fig. 47.

Cranium of the Maol, or Hornless Ox.]

The third class, or “short-horn”, had long narrow faces, with exceedingly small horn-cores curving abruptly inwards. The cranium of one specimen (female) measured seventeen inches in length of face, six inches across the forehead, and eleven inches from tip to tip of horn-core. Fig. 46 gives a good illustration of this breed, which was abundant. The fourth class, the _Maol_, or Myleen (the hornless or bald), differs in nothing from those of the present day, save that it appears to have been of smaller size than its modern representative. The average length of face is about seventeen inches, by about eight inches across the orbits. Almost all the heads of this variety presented by Wilde to the R. I. A. came from the crannog of Dunshaughlin: they exhibit a remarkable protuberance or frontal crest.

Figs. 1 and 2.--Top and Side view of Yoke found in Donagh Bog.

Figs. 3 and 4.--Yoke found on the margin of Lough Erne.

Figs. 5 and 6.--Yoke found with Figs. 3 and 4.

Wooden Yokes found in Donagh Bog and on the margin of Lough Erne.]

In Switzerland, at Robenhausen, a settlement of the Stone Age which had been buried under a bed of peat, it is stated by Keller that horizontal layers were discovered of a foreign substance, from two to ten inches thick, ascertained on analysis to be composed of the fæces of cattle. May not some of the dark strata on crannogs be composed of like matter? for there is documentary evidence that the Irish chiefs kept cattle on their islands in time of war. The Lord Treasurer Winchester, writing to announce the decease of Shane O’Neill to the Lord Deputy, says, that “he ought to inspect Shane’s lodging in the fen, where he built his abode, and _kept his cattle_ and all his men,” &c., &c. This “abode” is known to have been a crannog.

_Butter._--The custom of burying or hiding butter in bogs is probably of very ancient origin, but, like many old customs, was carried down in Ireland to a very late period. Thomas Dineley, in a diary of his visit to Ireland in the reign of Charles II., states that the Irish used “Butter layd up in wicker basketts, mixed with store of … a sort of garlick, and buried for some time in a bog.” Sir William Petty mentions “butter made rancid by keeping in bogs.” The custom is thus described in the Irish _Hudibras_:--

“Butter to eat with their hog
Was seven years buried in bog.”

The Faröe islanders had a similar practice with regard to tallow. Bog butter, or mineral tallow, is usually met with in single-piece wooden vessels, like long firkins.

_Yokes._--For beasts of burden, the yoke was in use from the earliest ages, but any that have been hitherto discovered, whether double or single, appear too small for cattle of species still existent; however, the old race of domesticated kine in Ireland may have been smaller in size than those of the present day. Probably the first yoke that attracted notice was the one described and illustrated by Wilde in his Catalogue of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, for it was not until a comparatively late period that the attention of antiquaries was directed towards this class of remains, usually found covered by a considerable depth of bog. A good idea of their general appearance is conveyed by the accompanying illustrations (plate XVI.) representing two yokes of wood that were discovered under eighteen feet of peat in Donagh, county Monaghan, in the year 1867. Fig. 2 is drawn on a somewhat larger scale than fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 represent yokes found by turf-cutters about the year 1874, deeply buried in a bog abutting on Lough Erne. One of them was composed of oak. Figs. 5 and 6 are specimens curiously contorted, twisted, and split, the result of over-hasty drying.[105]

Fig. 49.

Fig. 50.

Fig. 51.

Fig. 52.

Piscatory Implements or Arrows and Spear-heads.]

_Piscatory Implements._--In the crannog of Drumgay, county Fermanagh, there were implements for forming the meshes of nets. They consisted of nine pieces of deer’s horn, varying in size from six to little more than three inches in length. Four of them are curiously fashioned. Similar objects, composed of the tips of deer’s horn, have frequently occurred in crannog “finds,” and, during excavations made about the year 1851, in Christchurch-place and Fishamble-street, Dublin, many like specimens were discovered. There can be little doubt that they were used for making fishing lines or nets: indeed one of the discoverers having procured some thread, at once proceeded to illustrate his theory by the manufacture of a fishing line. The suggestion has also been offered that they may have been arrow or javelin heads. From vegetable fibre the crannog dweller made nets with which he obtained an ample supply of fish from the waters around him, and sink-stones, used for either fishing lines or nets, are by no means a rare “find.” Quoit-like discs of sandstone, pierced with a hole to attach them to the bottom rope of a net, are not uncommonly employed, even in the present day, in remote localities. A bronze fishing-hook picked up from the bottom of a lake is here figured, and in plate XXIX., vol. ii., of Keller’s work, there is a representation of one closely resembling it. In 1845 there was found in Lough-na-Glack, county Monaghan, a bolt or missive of bronze, 16½ inches in length, evidently used for spearing fish, and of which two illustrations are given in Shirley’s _History of the County Monaghan_. The thong or string attached to this weapon, and by which it was hauled back after projection, was called in Irish _fuainemain_. The name is in the present day applied by the herring fishermen of the south of Ireland to the bolt-rope of their fishing-nets.

_Household Economy._--In crannogs vessels of iron have been brought to light, also many cooking utensils of bronze; some, as may be noticed, of remarkable shape. Cauldrons both of large and small dimensions, hammered out of single sheets of copper, are numerous.[106] Plate XVII., No. 1 is a cup composed of “soapstone,” discovered with other remains, now scattered and lost, in the crannog of Drumsloe, near Ballinamallard, county Fermanagh. Articles hollowed out of stone are somewhat rare in Ireland, but more than one fine specimen occurs in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. A very perfect example similar to that found at Drumsloe, and represented at page 114, fig. 87, in the Catalogue, was brought to light in the river Shannon, and a portion of another may be seen in Canon Grainger’s interesting Museum at Broughshane, county Antrim. These curious vessels, though formed of stone, are usually found with objects belonging to a supposed late iron period. Cups strongly resembling them have been exhumed in connexion with the so-called “Picts’ Houses” in Scotland, and in some of the Lake Dwellings of that country.[107] No. 2 is a cauldron-like vessel of thin, hammered bronze, measuring 22½ inches in diameter by six inches in depth: it was found with many other objects of interest in the crannog of Cloonfinlough. On its upper side it presents a rim or lip measuring one inch in breadth, strengthened by four small plates, fastened to the vessel by bronze rivets, and placed at about equal distances from each other. No. 3 represents the upper portion of what had been a very large cauldron, with rivet-holes indicating the points where staples had been fixed for reception of rings, or the ends of a handle. The bronze, beaten to extreme thinness, of which this specimen is composed, seems to be of very early character. No. 4, a shallow bowl of oak, about twelve inches in diameter, exhumed, with other remains, from the crannog of Breagho, county Fermanagh, was quite perfect when first laid bare, but on exposure to the atmosphere it split into several pieces. No. 5, found in the crannog of Cloonfree, county Roscommon, is a beautiful little vessel hollowed out of a single piece of wood, and tastefully mounted with bronze fittings, but the scale on which it is drawn is too small to admit of the delicacy of its ornamentation being properly displayed. No. 6 represents an artistically formed ladle of extremely thin bronze, measuring in all 11½ inches, the internal diameter of its bowl being five inches. This ladle was discovered by turf-cutters in the bog of Bohermeen, county Meath, in close proximity to a large number of pointed stakes and other remains of timber, doubtless portion of the framework of a crannog; but in 1848--the date of its discovery--very little was known about lake dwellings, and few particulars of the “find” can now be chronicled. This vessel was bought at the time by W. F. Wakeman, and by him (together with a beautiful bronze pin found with it) presented to the late well-known antiquary Petrie, amongst whose collection, deposited in the R. I. A., it may now be seen. In the same Museum are several similar vessels, turned up during drainage operations in various parts of the country. They are supposed by some writers, but apparently without sufficient reason, to be of Roman origin: in Ireland, however, they are usually discovered in connexion with remains of purely Celtic type, and it is not known that in any instance classic decoration occurs upon an Irish example, although in Munro’s _Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings_, a bronze vessel (fig. 13. p. 45) of similar style is ornamented in undoubtedly late Roman art. No. 7 is a “coffee-pot”-shaped utensil of bronze, discovered in the crannog of Rooskey, parish of Killevan, county Monaghan, in June, 1876. It is seven inches in height, by four in breadth at the centre. The sketch is from a photograph of the original, kindly supplied for this work by Dr. Gillespie, of Clones. The spout branches into two, each terminating in the form of a monster’s head; the legs are finished like claws, and the animal ornamentation on the concentric rings or bands encircling the body of the vessel furnishes distinct evidence of very late Celtic art. The handle no longer remains. This is the only example recorded as having been as yet met with in an Irish crannog, although bronze articles of the same class are not uncommon--at least six others may be seen in the Museum, R. I. A., all from different localities, found either in bogs or in the beds of rivers. A similar example, save that it does not possess a dual spout, is figured at p. 24, _Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings_, and thus is established another point of resemblance between the crannog remains of the two countries, although Stuart in his _Notices of Scottish Crannogs_ remarks, that hardly any mention is made of the bronze dishes, pots, or “coffee-pot” vessels, amongst the relics of Irish crannogs which are so frequently found in those of Scotland. Characteristic examples from Lagore of iron remains of a domestic character are No. 8, evidently a flesh-fork, which measures, at present, 13¼ inches from end to end; and No. 10, a knife, measuring eighteen inches.

Culinary Utensils, Implements, &c., stone, bronze, wood, and iron.]

It will be seen that the majority of crannog culinary articles are more or less rounded at their base; thus when placed over a fire they would require to be suspended or have a support to steady them. No. 9, from the great crannog of Lough Gur, county Limerick, is composed of very fine iron, which had evidently been smelted with wood charcoal; it is admirably adapted for the purpose of sustaining a pot or other vessel over a fire of peat or wood, but it is a comparatively modern article.

Bones of deer and other animals found in connexion with Irish crannogs frequently bear marks of a saw, and No. 11, from Lagore, represents an instrument of this class, measuring six inches in length. It was, no doubt, secured by rivets to a back or handle of wood, but the rivets no longer remain. Saws of this kind, some larger, some smaller, have constantly accompanied crannog implements of iron. No. 12, also from Lagore, is, seemingly, a ladle or miniature frying-pan, scarcely eight inches in length.

In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy there is a beautiful thin saucer-shaped vessel, hammered out of a single piece of bronze that has been cleaned to show the rich red golden colour of the metal.

It is 7¾ inches in diameter, the rim pierced with two small holes as if for suspending it, and decorated externally with a number of indentations.[108] The crannog of Lisnacroghera furnished a vessel of fairly graceful form, composed of extremely thin bronze; but it is unprovided with either handles or holes for suspension.

A bowl or vessel of bronze measuring 5¼ inches in diameter and three inches in height, together with an iron ladle, were amongst the numerous objects procured at Lagore,[109] also another vessel 9⅞ inches in diameter, formed of thin iron.

_Querns_, or hand-mills, both of ancient and modern type, either in a perfect state or else more or less broken, have been found in most crannogs. “_Grain-rubbers_, for triturating corn, are, perhaps, the most primitive implements used in the manufacture of cereal food. Each consisted of a flag or flat stone slightly hollowed upon the upper surface, so as to hold the parched grain, and a convex rubber, or mullet, which was passed backwards and forwards with the hand, and thus bruised the corn into meal. Querns are evidently the next step in food-making machinery.… Although there are several varieties, the most simple and natural division of them is twofold. The first is that in which the upper and lower stone are simply circular discs from twelve to twenty inches across, the upper rotating upon the lower by means of a wooden handle, or sometimes two, inserted into the top, and fed or supplied with corn by an aperture in the centre, analogous to the hopper, and which may be termed the ‘grain-hole’ or eye. In this quern the meal passed out between the margins of the stones. The upper stones are usually concave and the lower convex, so as to prevent their sliding off, and also to give a fall to the meal.” The second variety is usually styled a _pot-quern_, and has a lip or margin in the lower stone, which encircles or overlaps the upper, the meal passing down through a hole in the side of the former. Most of this variety are of smaller size than the foregoing, which is evidently the more ancient and simple form, as well as that which presents us with the greatest diversity. The upper stone in the pot-quern was turned, as in the first-named kind, either by one or sometimes by two wooden handles. This kind of quern was denominated “bró.” The word, used in the signification “to grind,” occurs in Proverbs, chap. xxvii., v. 22: “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.”

A gentleman in Ireland, who at the commencement of the present century saw a quern at work, describes it as having the upper stone (fig. 60, A) about twenty-two inches in diameter, its under surface considerably concaved; the lower stone (B) was convexed, so that an easy descent was afforded for the meal (E) when ground. In the centre of the upper stone was a circular hole nearly three inches in diameter, and through it the quern was “fed,” as it is called, _i. e._ supplied with fresh corn (EEE) as fast as the bran and flour fell from the sides of the machine. Within about two inches of the edge was set an upright wooden handle (D) for moving the upper stone, which rested in equilibrio on a strong peg or pivot (C) in the centre of the lower stone. There were generally two women employed in the operation. They sat on the ground facing each other, the quern between. One of them with her right hand pushed the handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion, and in this manner a rapid rotatory motion was communicated to the upper stone, whilst the left hand of the operator was engaged in the “feeding” process. The corn, previously dried over a slow fire, when arrived at a certain degree of crispness, was taken up to be ground. This preparation prevented the raw taste perceptible in meal from modern mills. Little cookery was required. The ordinary way of using it was to mix the meal in its raw state with milk, to the consistency of thick porridge, and it was then eaten without any other accompaniment, the simple mixture being called “a crowdie.” A quern is evidently the primitive kind of mill referred to in the Scriptures, where it is said “two women shall be grinding at the mill:” and Shakspeare makes Puck to “sometimes labour in the quern.”

In the centre of the crannog of Drumgay, county Fermanagh, there was a large block of stone punctured with a cross, and another resembling it was discovered many feet deep, in the centre of the pagan carn of “The Miracles,” in the same district. Similar figures are inscribed or punched upon rocks and upon the sides of natural, or partly artificial caves, as at Loch na Cloyduff, _The Lake of the Dark Trench or Diggings_, and the “Lettered Cave,” in the cliffs of Knockmore, “_Great Knoll_,” county Fermanagh. Within the precincts of well-authenticated pagan tumuli, as at Dowth, cross patterns have been found, accompanied in several instances by “scorings,” at present unintelligible. On the base of a sepulchral urn, preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, the cross is displayed, and the figure of a cross within a circle occurs on an urn discovered at Broughderg, county Tyrone. Mr. Albert Wray has described some spoon-shaped objects of antique bronze, all decorated with the figure of a cross similar in design to the symbol as observable upon the earliest Irish quern-stones. The bronze articles in question exhibit a style of workmanship which has invariably been associated with pre-Christian times in both Britain and Ireland; whilst in the latter country discs and thin plates of gold belonging to the same period have been found presenting a cross-like ornamentation. At Drumgay, at Lough Eyes, at Roughan, and at Drumsloe, _the Ridge of the Host_, were cross-inscribed querns. Drumsloe lake, now almost drained, is situated within a short distance of Ballinamallard county Fermanagh. Interesting objects, now dispersed or lost, have been there from time to time turned up on the site of a crannog, the traces of which are now nearly obliterated, and the curious quern or _bró_, of which the accompanying cut is a facsimile, is one of the few remaining relics authentically connected with the locality. The quernstone measures one foot six inches in diameter.[110]

Fig. 63.--Quernstone from Lough Eyes. About one-tenth the real size.]

About the year 1839, upon lowering the level of the water for drainage purposes in Roughan lake, near Dungannon, county Tyrone, an island artificially formed was exposed to view. On it were numerous fragments of pottery and bones, a bronze pin, a few bronze spear-heads, together with a quern. The illustration (fig. 62) represents the top stone, which is eighteen inches in diameter, and two and a-half inches thick; it is formed of sandstone, the ornamentation being in high relief. The hole or socket for reception of the handle is in one of the arms of the cross, and goes quite through the stone.[111] Portions of a highly decorated quernstone, restored in the accompanying illustration (fig. 63), were found in one of the crannogs in Lough Eyes. On “Bone Island,” in the lake of Drumgay, several fragments of quern-stones were collected. Two of those obtained were inscribed with a cross-like ornamentation, one of them presenting a most unusual style of crannog geometrical decoration.

On pottery at Ballydoolough, a cross pattern was observable, as also on a comparatively modern iron article at Cloonfinlough, and there was in a crannog in Argyleshire a Greek cross, with crosslets as a pattern, or ornamentation, burnt into a piece of oak.[112] The “Croix gammée,” or Swastika, occurs on sculptured stones in Scotland, and appears on a mosaic pavement in the recently discovered Roman villa in the Isle of Wight. In Keller’s _Lake Dwellings of Switzerland_,[113] a cross within a circle is represented: it was found at Auvernier, and had seemingly been an article of personal adornment. Layard, in his work entitled _Nineveh and Babylon_, states that he found what is now called the Maltese and Irish cross in such connexion as led him to identify it with the sun. In these ancient sculptures the cross was often inserted within a circle, which, having neither beginning nor end, was considered to be the emblem of eternity, and may be so observed in Assyrian sculptures. Dr. Schliemann, in his _Troja_ (p. 167), gives a representation of a curious copper or bronze ring, about the size of an ordinary napkin ring, but very heavy. It has five compartments, each ornamented with a cross marked by openings cut in the metal. Amongst the whorls found by Dr. Schliemann, numbers are ornamented with and . The same sign is found in Pompeii, and amongst the ancient heathen population of Yucatan and Paraguay. “Later still, it was even adopted by the Christians as a suitable variety of their own cross, and became variously modified geometrically.” In No. 1 crannog, in the lake of Drumgay, there was a very peculiar cross-sculptured stone, two feet in length by three inches in thickness. It is seemingly of no great antiquity, and was most probably intended for a tombstone to be placed in the neighbouring cemetery of Devenish.

Sculptured Stone from No. 1 Crannog, Lake of Drumgay. About one-eighth the real size.]

_Human Remains._--There have been, as yet, few instances of the discovery of human bones in crannogs. At Dunshaughlin, in Meath, at Ardakillen and Cloonfinlough, in Roscommon, the people appear to have met with a violent end, and there is no reason to believe that the remains are very ancient. The lake dwellers of Switzerland had cemeteries on the mainland, directly opposite their habitations, and it is probable that the Irish disposed of their dead in the same manner, but up to the present this subject has not been investigated.

_Fireplaces on the Shore._--Numerous fireplaces on the shore adjoining crannogs were discovered at Drumkeery lough, and at Lough Eyes. In the immediate vicinity of the latter were traces of gins or traps for catching game. In the neighbouring bogs labourers have, at various times and in different localities, met with stakes planted in the original surface soil, in a vertical position, and sharpened to a point, seemingly by a clean-cutting metallic tool. Since fixed in their original position the peat had grown so much that it is now, on an average, about five feet above the pointed ends. It has been often surmised that stakes planted thus were in some way connected with the trapping of deer and other wild animals.[114]

_Pottery._--Dr. Schliemann rightly designates fragments of pottery as the cornucopia of archæological science; it is always abundant, and it possesses two qualities--those, namely, of being easy to break, and yet difficult to destroy, which render it very valuable in an archæological point of view. Investigation has shown that the inhabitants of crannogs had in use a description of fictile ware, distinctly characteristic in style, graceful in form, and well manufactured, admitted by English archæologists to be superior to that possessed by the Britons or early Saxons. It is known that the primitive people of Ireland possessed the art of constructing excellent fictile ware for mortuary purposes of fire-hardened clay; they could therefore manufacture every-day culinary vessels of the same material. An immense quantity of pottery has been found in connexion with many crannogs, by which means facilities are afforded for comparing ordinary domestic vessels with the urns and vases of an undoubtedly prehistoric and pagan period. The great majority of specimens of crannog pottery present designs marked upon them, similar in style to the ornamentation observable on the walls of sepulchral cairns and the vessels deposited in them, on golden or bronze ornaments, on implements, and on the surface of rocks, all of which are usually acknowledged to date from prehistoric times.[115] Mr. Rau states that the fictile vessels discovered by him amongst the debris of Indian relics on the left bank of the Cahokia Creek, on the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, resemble the ancient Irish fictilia, “more especially those found in crannogs and kitchen middens.” One fragment showed punctured and impressed ornamentation of the class so usual on Celtic urns. Mr. Graves observes that the arts of primeval peoples may be illustrated by comparison with those that prevail under similar conditions of civilization existing in or near our own times. Thus in India cromleac builders raise their megalithic monuments on hills. In the Hebrides, cloghans, _i. e._ mortarless stone-built and roofed habitations, similar to those strewn over the western littoral of Connaught, and also lake dwellings in various parts of the world, are even still occupied.

From the crannog of Lough Faughan, Co. Down, was procured the pitcher No. 9, Museum of the Royal Irish Academy; also another pitcher, 13 inches in height, and 32 in girth, of a description of pottery so light as only to weigh 5 lbs. 10 oz. It figures as No. 10 in the collection of food implements. Externally it is dark in colour, and being partially glazed, is, therefore, not of very ancient date: it is so rounded at the bottom that it cannot stand upright: about the neck, and for some distance down the sides, it is tastefully decorated, and the handle is peculiar in form.[116]

The accompanying engraving (fig. 67), a good specimen of another class of fictile ware, represents, in a restored form, one of the finest of the crocks found at Ballydoolough. In colour it is light-yellowish red; it measures three feet two inches round the mouth, and is tastefully ornamented on the rim and sides. This decoration had been evidently impressed upon the soft clay before the vessel was burnt, and the pattern conveys the idea of such antiquity that, if found in a tumulus, it would be referred to a prehistoric age.

A large fragment of fictile ware was discovered on one of the crannogs in the lake of Drumgay; it was of size sufficient to enable a restored representation (fig. 68) to be made of a vessel that had been in use by the former inhabitants of the crannog for culinary purposes.

The following illustrations (figs. 69 and 70) represent two of the vessels found in the crannog in Lough Eyes, county Fermanagh, carefully restored from fragments discovered on the sites. With the remains of these vessels were numerous flat discs formed of the same kind of clay, and that would seem to have been their covers or lids.

For the escape of steam during the process of boiling, a simple provision is observable in several of these earthen pots. In the neck of the vessel, just below the point where the lid would be supported, is a small circular hole (see figs. 72 and 73). The aperture occurs in numerous fragments, but it is not now possible to determine whether this class of vessel, when entire, was invariably perforated.[117]

About 140 fragments of earthen vessels were discovered in the Ballydoolough crannog--none, however, in an entire state; but several pieces of the same article being found to fit together, a restoration giving a correct idea of the perfect vessel was easily attained. Fig. 67 (see _ante_, page 92), has been thus reconstructed. The next engraving (fig. 74) represents a fragment of what must have been a very large vessel, ornamented on the side with a chevron, and on the rim with an oblique pattern; it is composed of very hard-baked clay, dark in colour.

A third fragment (fig. 75) partakes of the character of the last described. The decoration is more elaborate and the punctured design or chevron slightly different. Many of the indentations are of semicircular form, and not angular or semiangular, as in most of the other crocks. The material is very hard, like fig. 74, and of a dark colour. Fig. 76 is portion of a large, straight-lipped vessel, that measured originally over three feet in circumference round the rim; it is unornamented, and formed of hard, well-baked, darkish-coloured clay.

Fig. 77 is the only pattern of its kind found at Ballydoolough. It is drawn half-size. Whether this specimen and fig. 76 were originally furnished with ears it is now impossible to say. Figs. 78 and 79, drawn one-half the real size, represent portions of vessels. The larger fragment bears upon its ear, or handle, two figures somewhat like a St. Andrew’s cross; on the smaller there is only one.

Cross inscribed Pottery.

Fig. 79.

Cross inscribed Pottery.]

Fig. 80, drawn half-size, exhibits a bold but rude chevron pattern.

There were thirty-five distinct patterns on the various fragments unearthed, yet the locality was not thoroughly explored. Specimens of the pottery from Ballydoolough were forwarded to Mr. Albert Wray, a well-known authority on such subjects, and he would not refer them to a very early age, or to that in which the use of bronze was prevalent. The mode of ornamentation appeared to present a slight resemblance to the “Cuerdale Hoard,” which is sometimes ascribed to the ninth century. W. F. Wakeman, however, is of opinion that amongst the numerous designs found upon the crannog vessels there is none suggestive of the work of Christian times in Ireland, unless the cross-marked fragments be considered as such, chevrons and circular depressions being all expressive of Pagan ideas of ornamental art.

On “Bone Island,” in the lake of Drumgay, were several fragments of earthen vessels. The one represented in the annexed cut, drawn half size, is a portion of what had been a large and well-formed vessel with ears. The top of the rim is ornamented with a pattern. The diameter of the vessel at the mouth is about eleven inches; the neck is short, and the sides are decorated with indented lines about an inch in length, placed diagonally. There were also several fragments of fictile ware consisting of unimportant portions of rims decorated as shown in the accompanying representations. One pattern is a simple chevron. The accompanying illustrations represent characteristic examples of the pottery found in abundance on No. 3 crannog in Lough Eyes, county Fermanagh (plate XVIII., figs. 83 to 88).

Fig. 83.--Fragment of Fictile Vessel from Lough Eyes.

Fig. 84.--Fragment of Fictile Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 85.--Fragment of Fictile Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 86.--Ear of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 87.--Fragment of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-third size.

Fig. 88.--Lip of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fragments of Pottery, from No. 3 Crannog, Lough Eyes.

(Discovered by W. F. Wakeman.)]

Numerous fragments of fictile ware, of which five rims are given as specimens, were in No. 5 crannog, in the same locality (plate XIX., figs. 90, 91, 92, 95, 96); and fragments were found in No. 6 crannog, of which four examples are given (plate XIX., figs. 89, 93, 94, 97).

Fig. 89.--Fragment of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 90.--Rim of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 91.--Rim of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 92.--Rim of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 93.--Fragment of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 94.--Fragment of base of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 95.--Rim of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 96.--Rim of Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half size.

Fig. 97.--Fragment of Vessel from Lough Eyes.

Fragments of Pottery, from No. 5 and No. 6 Crannogs, Lough Eyes.

(Discovered by W. F. Wakeman.)]

Fig. 99.--Fragment of Fictile Ware, Lough Eyes. One-half size.]

Figs. 98 and 99 represent fragments of fictile ware also from Lough Eyes. Fig. 98 has evidently been a deep-lipped vessel, and its “herring-bone” ornamentation is almost identical with the pattern that prevails most upon burial urns, and closely resembles that figured upon the vessel found in “One Man’s Cairn,” at Moytirra, county Mayo, as represented in Wilde’s _Lough Corrib_, p. 235: the same style of decoration is a characteristic of early bronze celts and other remains of the prehistoric period. Fig. 99 presents the same style of ornamentation. It was apparently an eared vessel, of reddish-drab colour.

Fig. 100 has evidently formed portion of what was a well-finished vessel. So far as at present known, its style of ornamentation is extremely rare, being identical with that seen upon portion of a decorated leathern shoe found in the crannog of Dowalton loch, Wigtonshire, and of which a representation is given at p. 49 of Munro’s _Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings_. The fragments of vessels found in Lough Eyes were all hand-made, and well burnt, whilst the action of the fire would seem to have been greater on the interior than on the exterior. The material used was the sandy clay of the district, or perhaps the grit may have been added in order to give greater consistency to the paste. In most of the specimens there are distinct traces of this sand, and in the ruder examples particles of white stone of the size of very small peas project from the surface. The colour varies from light drab to a very dark brown, almost black, whilst some few are of a reddish hue--but all are unglazed. Many fragments of pottery have from time to time been disinterred from the site of the crannogs in the lake of Drumskimly, county Fermanagh: one of them is figured in the _Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland_,[118] in connexion with a vase evidently of Pagan origin, from the “Bar” of Fintona, near Trillick, county Tyrone.

The term “Lestar” comprises vessels of various shapes, and of all kinds of material, although it is more generally applied to those made of wood--several have been found in crannogs. In a bog, occupying what in distant ages appears to have been the site of a small lake, on the lands of Cavancarragh, county Fermanagh, implements of flint, a fine bronze spear-head, and a beautifully-shaped wooden vessel, were discovered, all buried under peat. Now, according to the theory of some geologists, a peat formation of such depth as covered them would, according to circumstances, take from six hundred to one thousand years to accumulate, so that the articles found might be referred back to any period from the thirteenth to the ninth century; and at about this latter period, it is remarked, with regard to the ornamentation observable on the wooden vessel, that a similar style prevailed in the MSS. and on stone work of that era, still extant. The vessel was made of oak, the bottom alone being alder: when first exhumed it was entire, and had a cover; the original form seems to have been one of unusual beauty, and the height about fifteen inches. The lid, now unfortunately lost, is described as slightly convex, with a knob-like handle in the centre, the ornamental work on it similar to that of the vessel itself. On the dark shading round the rim, and between the interlacing ornamentation, both of vessel and lid, traces were apparent of some kind of pigment, or enamel, with which the surface of the wood had been overlaid. In the crannog of Ballydoolough, county Fermanagh, a vessel of wood was discovered in an entire state, but from long saturation reduced almost to a state of pulp. The engraving (about one-fifth the real size), gives a good idea of it. In process of drying, the vessel soon lost all shape, and became strangely twisted and distorted. On comparing this woodcut with a vase found in a small stone chamber at Knocknecoura, near Bagnalstown, county Carlow, and now in the Museum, R.I.A., a striking resemblance in form is observable; the latter vessel is, however, more ornamental. To find in a grave an urn of almost exactly the same shape as a vessel undoubtedly used to hold food, suggests the idea that the so-called sepulchral urns in cairns and graves need not be viewed as necessarily intended to hold human ashes, or the cremated bones of sacrifices. Might not the object of their position have been to supply the warrior with food on his way to the Happy Hunting Grounds of Tirnanog? A willow platter, 15 inches by 14 (fig. 104), was found in the crannog of Ballinderry. It did not split much in drying, and is in a very good state of preservation: one handle, however is defective, the other is 2¾ inches in length by 4 in breadth. The dimensions of fig. 105 are as follows: extreme length from handle to handle, 31⅛ inches; length inside, 25¾ inches; extreme breadth across the rim, 21⅛ inches. It is not so well preserved as its confrere from Ballinderry, as it rent in drying, but has not become either warped or twisted like the great majority of wooden utensils exhumed from peat.

Fig. 104.--Willow Platter from the Crannog of Ballinderry, Co. Westmeath. (Museum, R. I. A.)

Fig. 105.--Carved Platter made of Fir, from Ballykeine Bog, Co. Antrim.

Wooden Platters.]

“Meadar,” or “_Mether_,” is the Irish designation for a species of drinking cup, so called, it is said, because it was employed to contain “mead.” It seems to have been commonly made of yew, was quadrangular at the lip, and round at the bottom. It was usually provided with two or more handles for the purpose of passing it round from hand to hand. There was a curious cup of this description in one of the crannogs of Lough Rea, county Galway, too much decomposed, however, to be dug out in an entire state; and at Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, was a four-sided drinking vessel, composed of horn, and very small, being only 2½ inches in height; it resembles one discovered in the parish of Tamlaght O’Crilly, county Derry.[119] The use of the _Mether_ appears to have been universal in Ireland, and continued to a late period, whilst judging from the great depth at which it is found buried in peat, its antiquity must be extreme. In drinking out of the _Mether_, it was not the side, but one of the four corners that should be applied to the mouth. It is related that when Lord Townsend’s term of the Irish Vice-royalty had expired, he carried over to England, on his return, two large methers, which were always produced at his dinner parties. His guests generally applied the _side_ of the vessel to the mouth, therefore seldom escaped without a drenched neck-cloth, vest, or doublet, and the host (after enjoying the joke), if an Irishman chanced to be present, called upon him to teach the Saxons the _mether drill_.

Dean Swift, in his translation of “O’Rourke’s Noble Feast”--a poem written about 1720, in the Irish language--thus alludes to this species of drinking cup--

“Usquebaugh to our feast, in pails was brought up,
An hundred at least, and a _madder_ our cup.”

Wooden Mallet from Lisnacroghera.]

Wooden Peg from Glencar.]

The object here represented (fig. 107), is a wooden mallet, 1 foot 7 inches in length, found about fifteen feet below the original surface of the crannog of Lisnacroghera.[120] Fig. 108, about 10½ inches in length, may be also a mallet, but was more probably used as a peg to keep some part of the framework in position. It rested on one of the beams of the western crannog in Glencar, county Sligo.

Bone Spindle Whorl from Ardakillen.]

The MS. Book of Ballymote contains an ancient Irish poem, which states “It was Tigearnmas first established in Ireland the art of dyeing cloth of purple, and many colours.” This monarch is alleged to have lived, A.M. 2816(?), therefore in Ireland the arts of weaving and dyeing are of remotest antiquity. Some bright red colouring matter (realgar?), rolled up in a piece of birch bark, was discovered in one of the crannogs of Loughrea, county Galway;[121] orpiment, a yellow sulphuret, probably used in dyeing, was found in Cloneygonnell;[122] and, whorls, or little discs, popularly called by the peasantry “fairy mill-stones,” are found in great numbers; of these fig. 109 is a good example. The whorl was supposed to be simply a weight, used to aid the rotation of the stick fixed to a ring on the spindle: it can be seen in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculptures, and wall paintings, and Schliemann in his excavations at Hissarlisk found thousands of these objects. It has been suggested that a curious ovoid piece of hard polished bone, found at Ardakillen, may have been utilised in weaving, for the purpose of keeping the threads, or cords in their proper places; its longest diameter was 2½ inches, and it was perforated with ten holes of slightly different sizes.[123] Investigation has led to the belief that flax was cultivated in Egypt more than forty centuries ago, and was thence brought into Europe; it was discovered in the oldest lake dwellings in Switzerland, of the kind which is native to the Mediterranean countries; the term _lin_--the root of the English word _linen_,--is to be traced in nearly every European language: in spoken Irish it is _leen_, i.e. flax. The art of spinning, being of a sedentary nature, was exclusively allotted to women, which is supposed to explain the fact of such a number of whorls being found on the site of crannogs, where this peaceful occupation was carried on. In the present day, the province of Ulster seems to have monopolized an industry that may be traced back to the primitive inhabitants of the lake dwellings of Ireland.

Ovoid piece of polished Bone from Ardakillen.]

Fig. 112.

Fig. 113.

Fig. 114.

Fig. 115.

Fig. 116.

Fig. 117.

Figs. 115, 116, and 117 are Bone Pins with attached Heads, from the Crannog of Ballinderry.]

Fig. 118.

Fig. 119.

Fig. 120.

Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog.]

_Articles of the Toilet, etc., or of Personal Adornment._--In crannogs, pins form one of the most numerous handicraft “finds;” they are fashioned of bone, wood, bronze, iron, and gold: great variety is observable in their shape and design: indeed there are few articles on which the crannog artificer has bestowed more pains than on these cloak or dress fasteners. At Lagore, pins of bone occurred absolutely in hundreds--the great majority were of very plain character, something like skewers--flat-headed, and perforated with one hole; some of the richer examples were singular in design--their heads presenting grotesque human figures, or carvings of beasts; a few of them terminated in plain bulbs, or in a series of graceful mouldings: but whether in bone, wood, or metal, the designs and style of ornamentation are very varied, and so minute in some instances is the decoration, as only fully to be descried by the aid of a magnifying glass. Fig. 111, of simple form, is here represented full size; it is ornamented with diagonal lines; the head is perforated, but the ring (if it ever contained one) has disappeared.[124] Fig. 112, found at Grosses Island, on the Shannon, is large, and dark in colour, it is 9 inches long, and 2½ inches thick at the head: it seems too large to be classed as a mantle pin. Fig. 113 is of less simple outline. The shank of fig. 114 is formed like a knife-blade, with a rise near the top, probably intended as a catch to secure it in the garment which it fastened. Fig. 115 is 3½ inches long, and has an oblong head of bone, with four indentations, one in each corner; it rests upon a shoulder cut in the shank. Fig. 116, 4½ inches in length, has a circular head 1 inch in diameter. Fig. 117 is another highly decorated pin, square in the shank, and 5½ inches long, with a looped head, through which is passed a ring. Fig. 118 (plate XXI.) has an acus 4¼ inches long, ornamented with the “dot-and-circle,” and the front of its flat discoid pendant has an inscription of oghamic character surrounding a dot and double circle, enclosed within an ornamented border--

The loop at the head is not continuous. In fig. 119 (plate XXI.) the acus is 4⅞ inches long, with an irregular oval ring as pendant, ornamented with the dot-and-circle. The acus has a swelling in the middle, which at one side has the dot-and-circle, and on the other a runic-like scoring--

Fig. 120 (plate XXI.) has an acus 3¾ inches long, it bears a pendant carved in the shape of a Maltese cross, ornamented on both sides with the dot-and-circle. The acus has an ogham-like scoring on one face--

Fig. 121.

Fig. 122.

Fig. 123.

Fig. 124.

Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog.]

In fig. 121 (plate XXII.) the acus is 7⅝ inches long, flattish, and ornamented by cross notchings, which seem merely ornamental, although at one side the character N is repeated many times; the pendant is somewhat rectangular in form, and perforated with a round opening--its rim ornamented with dots and lines. Fig. 122 (plate XXII.) is a pin 5⅜ inches long, with a large flat pendant, rudely and irregularly decorated in front. The acus has no ornament, but about its centre there is a square enlargement to keep it firm when inserted in the dress, and this projection has ogham-like scribings on three of its faces. Fig. 123 (plate XXII.) has an acus 3 inches long, with a small circle as a pendant, ornamented with dots; one side of the acus has a herring-bone pattern, the other bears scores--

Fig. 124 has the acus 3½ inches long, and a circular ring for pendant; the ring has scoring on one face--

One side of the acus is ornamented with the dot-and-circle; on the other (shown in the cut) is a runic-like scoring--

There are cracks, or openings, in the rings at the head of each acus, by means of which the pendants may have been introduced; but these cracks are possibly the result of wear or straining, and it may be that both pendant and acus were originally carved out of one piece, like Chinese chains of ivory rings. From the same “find” came a pin with acus 4¾ inches long, having a flat discoid pendant of considerable size, both acus and pendant ornamented with the dot-and-circle; also a plain bone pin 2¼ inches long, with a hole at the head for a wire ring; another plain bone pin 3 inches long, with a flat head unpierced for ring or pendant; and a pin of yew, 2¼ inches long, with a round head.[125]

Scribed Pins from the Crannog of Ballinderry.]

The scorings on these pins, though mostly mere ornament, seem in some cases greatly to resemble Ogham and runic characters, but Professor Stephens, of Copenhagen, to whom photographs of the runic-like scribings were submitted, could not decide that they were actually runes; and again, other examples of bone pins from Ballinderry, preserved in the Museum, R. I. A., bear seemingly well-marked Ogham scorings, yet Professor Rhys and Sir Samuel Ferguson were unable to interpret them.[126] The pin given, plate XXIII., fig. 1 (full size), bears ogham-like scorings on the front of its disc, no doubt originally intended to convey a meaning, but up to the present no key has been discovered by which they can be read; it is possible they were intended as a charm of some kind. Fig. 2 (plate XXIII.) was not in the Academy when Wilde compiled his catalogue: the head of this pin is of stone, said to be agate, secured to the bone stem, seemingly, by a small wedge of bronze. Near its termination, the pin assumes an acutely quadrangular form, each face bearing an ogham-like set of scorings; these may possibly also have been talismans. Pins of bone, as well as of bronze, have been frequently found with rings of that metal attached to them, of a more or less ornamental type, but sometimes consisting of a mere piece of wire. Fig. 125, from Lisnacroghera, represents a rude ring of this nature; and quite recently a bronze pin, with similar attachment, was picked up from the bed of Drumcliff river, county Sligo. A pin of unusual form, and ornamented with two human heads, fig. 126, was brought to light in the crannog of Loughravel; the material is dark-coloured bronze, cast in the required form, but finished off with a chasing tool. In fig. 127 the ring, with which most pins are decorated, assumes the form of a coin, or flattened disc with a notch at top to allow it free play in the loop. In some specimens the disc of the coin is smooth and plain, but in others, as that here represented, it is highly ornate. Fig. 128 shows a rude plain specimen of the penannular pin, decorated in the inferior enlargements.[127] Fig. 129 from Lagore, has a head of singular fashion, and the bronze ornament claims special notice “on account of the analogy of type which it presents as compared with the remarkable silver pins found at Largo, in Fifeshire,” and with the “Hammer-headed pins” in the Museum, R.I.A. Fig. 130,[128] of similar form, is ornamented on its semicircular plate; the ground had originally been filled in with enamel, as were probably the front terminations of the tubes. It was found near a crannog in Craigywarren bog, parish of Skerry, county Antrim. Fig. 131, from Lagore, is unique; its entire length is 3 inches, and it has three rings passing through apertures in the elongated head, which is the only part here represented; its inferior extremity is decorated with a cross-like ornamentation.[129] Fig. 132, from Ballinderry, is a plain pin, with a wheel-like head, having a small hole in the neck, through which a ring passed.[130] Crannogs and street cuttings are the principal localities from which the small pins, figs. _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_, _h_ have been procured, they vary in length from 2¼ to 7½ inches; fig. d is from Ardakillen.[131] All the articles figured in plate XXIV. were found at Lagore, and now form part of the Petrie Collection in the Museum, R.I.A. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are of iron, of which material very few ornamental objects have been found in Irish crannogs. No. 1 is remarkable as presenting a fine example of the torque pattern. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in form strongly resemble brooch pins of bronze, which there is every reason to believe belong to an extremely remote period. The bone pins, Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, are faithful representations of the leading varieties of that article, as found in Irish lake dwellings, and indeed in some pagan tombs. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (plate XXV.), are believed to represent wooden pins for the hair. No. 1 remains in a perfect state: the mouldings upon its lower and thinner end were doubtless intended to keep the article in its proper place, and prevent its slipping from the “back hair” of some long-forgotten beauty. No. 2 is unfortunately imperfect, but it is of interest on account of the boldness of the mouldings by which its head is decorated. No. 3 is perhaps the most remarkable pin composed of wood which has been recorded as found in a crannog: its decoration consists chiefly of varieties of the divergent spiral, highly characteristic of early Celtic art. No. 4 may possibly have been a hair-pin, but it was more probably used as a bodkin. Nos. 5 and 6, with serrated edges, seem well designed for the purpose of securing the hair in position. Pins of this kind were probably used in pairs, attached together with a string. No. 7 is a nondescript piece of wood, with two perforations; and No. 8 represents a handle, probably belonging to a very small wooden vessel. No. 9, shaped like one half of a wheel, is cut out of the solid, and appears to have been very carefully worked. It is almost impossible to form an opinion as to the character of this object: possibly it may have formed portion of the head of a cross: if so, it is the only relic of that kind hitherto reported to have occurred in a crannog. Nos. 10 and 11 are noticed by Wilde as seal-like articles. The former of these is solid; but the latter, from its thicker end to the moulding, is hollow.[132]

Iron and Bone Pins from Lagore.]

Fig. 127. Flattened disc-headed Pin from Ballinderry. Full size.

Fig. 128. Penannular Bronze Pin from Lagore. Full size.]

Fig. 130.

Fig. 131.