Project Gutenberg's The Lake Dwellings of Ireland, by W. G. Wood-Martin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: The Lake Dwellings of Ireland Or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs. Author: W. G. Wood-Martin Release Date: June 28, 2015 [EBook #49313] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND *** Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Some illustrations are described as “One-half size” or similar. These descriptions relate to the size of the image in the original printed book and not to the size they are displayed in this e-text. For reference: a full page was 26cm in height; Plate XIX is an example of a full page image; efforts have been made to retain the sizes of images relative to each other. THE LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND. Frontispiece. [Pg i] [Pg ii] IRISH LAKE DWELLING OF THE ISOLATED TYPE. Ideally restored from inspection of numerous sites. THE LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND: OR ANCIENT LACUSTRINE HABITATIONS OF ERIN, COMMONLY CALLED CRANNOGS. BY W. G. WOOD-MARTIN, M.R.I.A., F.R.H.A.A.I., LIEUT.-COLONEL 8TH BRIGADE NORTH IRISH DIVISION, R.A.; Author of “Sligo and the Enniskilleners”; “History of Sligo, from the Earliest Ages to the close of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.” “There, driving many an oaken stake Into the shallow, skilful hands A steadfast island-dwelling make, Seen from the hill-tops like a fleet Of wattled houses.…” “The footprints of an elder race are here, And memories of an heroic time, And shadows of the old mysterious faith.” DUBLIN: HODGES, FIGGIS & CO., GRAFTON STREET. PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. 1886. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. [Pg iii] [Pg iv] DUBLIN: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Decorative header PREFACE. he object the writer has in view in this Publication is to place on record the remarkable discoveries made in a department of Archæology hitherto almost unnoticed in Ireland, except in the Proceedings, Catalogues, and Journals of various learned Societies. So far back as 1861 a writer remarked that such a work would be “a real boon to archæology,” yet in the interval none has appeared. The cause is not far to seek. A publication treating of the habits and social economy of long-forgotten generations is little calculated to gain a rapid foothold with the general public, by whom the study of the past may probably be considered dull as well as useless reading. To many, however, it proves most interesting to observe— despite widest variations of climatic conditions—the great similarity of the ways and habits of man while in a rude uncultivated state—acting as it were by a common instinct—and again to trace his upward progress towards civilization. A wide tract in this field of archæological research is fortunately opened up by a comparison of the Irish Lake Dwellings and their “finds” with those of other countries, more especially with the discoveries brought into such prominent notice by Keller in Switzerland, and Munro in Scotland. To the late Sir William Wilde belongs the honour of first drawing general attention to the water habitations of Erin; his labours have been ably followed up by W. F. Wakeman, who has so largely contributed to the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland both Papers and Drawings illustrative of the subject. In the present work, Kinahan, Reeves, Graves, Wilde, and other specialists, have been freely quoted, as evidenced in the text; in short, the observations of every author have been utilized, provided they touched on points that could tend in any degree to elucidate the subject under consideration. “A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees further of the two”: thus the writer, standing in this line of investigation on the eminence created by his predecessors, may perhaps be enabled to lay before his readers a distinct and comprehensive view of the Ancient Lake Dwellings in Ireland. Recent discoveries and new matter will be found in these pages; but the special intention has been to collect carefully all the information hitherto furnished by the explorers of Irish Lake Dwellings, and to present that information in a condensed form, “an abridgment of all that is pleasant,” so as to render it acceptable to archæologists, and perchance agreeable to the general reader, who, not having had his attention previously directed towards the subject, can scarcely be supposed willing to explore the voluminous records of scientific societies in search of items connected with the question of lacustrine remains in Ireland. This Publication may, perhaps, help to diffuse more generally the knowledge already possessed, so that when fresh discoveries are made in any new locality increased care may be devoted to the exploration; for every artificial island is not necessarily of remote antiquity, and the most careful examination is essential before arriving at a decision respecting the probable period of the primary construction of a crannog. It would be fortunate indeed should these pages excite sufficient attention to prove, even remotely, the cause of having the various relics indicative of the social economy and industries of the inhabitants of our ancient “water-towns” arranged systematically in the new Museum of the Science and Art Department, now in course of construction in Dublin. The facility thus afforded of studying these antiquities—some of them safely protected during untold centuries by their covering of peat and water—could not fail to lead to a clearer comprehension of the real condition of ancient culture and civilization in Erin. The Council of the Royal Irish Academy most generously permitted for this work the use of all the woodcuts in their possession illustrative of lacustrine remains, and the same favour was accorded by the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, through the Secretary, the Rev. James Graves. Plate viii. and figures 18, 27, 57, 129, 188, 196, 197, and 216 were granted by the Council of the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland; figures 206 and 207 by the Society of Antiquaries of London, together with plate iii. taken from The Archæologia; figures 6, 7, and 8, by the Anthropological Society; figures 214 and 215 by the well-known antiquary, John Evans; plate xxxviii., by W. T. Lockwood; and by permission of Robert Mac Adam figures 126, 147, and 148, are reproduced from the Ulster Journal of Archæology. As far as practicable, every hitherto published illustration bearing on the subject was applied for, and, with but one exception, most kindly granted. Much valuable information was furnished by W. F. Wakeman, who has also drawn most of the illustrations, their character and expression being well carried out by the engraver, William Oldham. [Pg v] [Pg vi] [Pg vii] [Pg viii] Cleveragh, Sligo, October, 1885. CONTENTS. PART I. ORIGIN, CONSTRUCTION, AND CIVILIZATION OF THE ANCIENT LACUSTRINE HABITATIONS OF IRELAND, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THEIR REMAINS AND THE ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN OR AROUND THEM. Page Introductory, 1-23 Wooded nature of the country. Wild animals. Climatic changes. Lakes. Lake-dwellings of all countries. Lake-dwellings of Ireland, 23- 55 Crannog, derivation of the word; a common townland name. Submarine crannog. Favourite sites for crannogs; mode of construction. Stone lake-dwellings. Theory of crannogs being only temporary refuges untenable. Palisades. Dwellings. Gangways to crannogs. Canoes. Paddles. Anchors. Curach. Ingenuity of lake-dwellers. Clothing, &c. Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, 55- 73 Weapons and tools. Armour. Stone moulds. Food and Vegetable Remains, 73- 81 Hammer-stones. Mammalia. Butter. Yokes. Piscatory implements. Household Economy, &c., 81- 105 Grain-rubbers. Querns. Human remains. Fireplaces on the shore. Pottery. Wooden vessels. Drinking cups. Wooden mallets. “Whorls.” Colouring-matter. Spinning. Articles of the Toilet or of Personal Adornment, 105- 125 Pins of iron, bronze, bone, and wood, &c. Iron shears and knives. Combs of bone and wood. Bronze tweezers. Stone and bronze ornaments: brooches, penannular rings, circlets, &c. Touchstones. Crucibles. Ornaments of gold and silver. Rings of stone, jet, and glass. Beads of stone, bone, jet, lead, earthenware, wood, and glass. Music, 125- 128 Harps and harp pins, trumpets, &c. Amusements, 128- 132 Chess a game of great antiquity in Ireland—anecdotes of; game-board. Counters or discs of bone, perforated and unperforated. Stone chessman. Inscriptions, 132- 135 Ogham, inscriptions in.—Anecdotes of. Money, 135- 136 Coins found in crannogs.—Anecdotes of. Horse Furniture, 136- 138 Saddle, bronze cheek-pieces, iron bits, and enamelled plates. Miscellaneous Articles, 138- 145 Decorated bones and plates of bone, bone spoon, spatula-shaped bone, miscellaneous articles found in the crannogs of Randalstown, Lough Guile, Ballykinler, and Cloonfinlough. Bronze and iron objects from Lagore. Iron fishing implements. [Pg ix] [Pg x] [Pg xi] Historical Notices of Crannogs, 145- 160 Extracts from State documents and the Irish Annals, tracing their existence from the seventeenth century back to prehistoric times. PART II. DESCRIPTION AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ALL KNOWN LACUSTRINE SITES IN IRELAND, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN OR AROUND THEM. Province of Ulster, 163- 203 Province of Leinster, 204- 211 Province of Munster, 212- 220 Province of Connaught, 221- 249 INDEX, 251- 268 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND. Fig. Page 1. Sketch Section of Swiss Pile Dwelling, 12 2. Excavation in a Crannog in Loughrea, showing Wicker-work Wall and Basket-flooring, 32 3. Stone Lake-dwellings in Lough Bola, 34 4. Remaining fragment of Wooden Sword, found at Inver, 41 5. Sketch of Ancient Floor in the Townland of Cargaghoge, barony of Farney, 42 6. Section of Roadway in soft ground, 44 7. Section of Roadway in firm ground, 45 8. Plan of Roadway, showing repairs, 45 9. Axe-head of bone, 45 10. Flint Arrow-head, shaft and thong still adhering, 45 11. Fragment of Deerskin Garment, 54 STONE, BONE, BRONZE, AND IRON IMPLEMENTS, &c. 12, 13. Flint Flakes from the Crannog of Lough Ravel. Half size, 58 14. Flake of Basalt from Toombridge. Full size, 58 15. Worked Flint from Lisnacroghera. Full size, 58 16. Axe-head of Red-deer’s Horn from Lough Eyes. Quarter size, 59 17. Iron Sword from Lisnacroghera. About two-fifths real size, 61 18. Iron Spear-head from Lagore, 63 19- 23. Spear Butt-ends of Bronze from Lisnacroghera. Two-thirds natural size, 64 24. Bronze Dagger from Lagore, 65 25. Bronze Skean from Loughran Island, 65 26. Bronze Enamelled object from Lisnacroghera. Full size, 67 27. Iron Axe-head from Lagore, 68 28- 30. Iron objects from Lisnacroghera, 68 31. Front and side view of Iron Adze from Lisnacroghera, 69 32. Whetstone, 69 33. Iron Helmet found in the Monea Crannog. Front and side view, 70 [Pg xii] [Pg xiii] [Pg xiv] [Pg xv] [Pg xvi] [Pg xvii] [Pg xviii] 34. Disc of Bronze from Lisnacroghera, 72 35. Stone Mould from Lough Scur, 72 36. Stone Mould from Lough Ramor, 73 37. Stone Implement from the Crannog of “The Miracles,” 74 FOOD. 38. Lower Jaw of Sus scrofa, 74 39. Head and Antlers of Cervus elaphus, 74 40- 42. Crania of Goats, 75 43. Cranium of Wolf Hound, 75 44. Cranium of domesticated Bos longifrons, 76 45. Cranium of the Crom-adharach, or Crumpled-horn Ox, 77 46. Cranium of the Gearr-adharach, or Short-horned Ox, 78 47. Cranium of the Maol, or Hornless Ox, 78 48- 52. Piscatory Implements or Arrows and Spear-heads, 80 53. Sink-stone. Half size, 81 54. Bronze Fishing-hook. Full size, 81 HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 55. Saucer-shaped Vessel of Bronze from Cloonfinlough. About one-fifth real size, 84 56. Bronze Vessel from Lisnacroghera. Slightly over six inches in diameter, 84 57. Bronze Vessel and Iron Ladle from Lagore, 85 58. Iron Vessel from Lagore. One-tenth the real size, 85 59. Grain-rubber. About one-tenth the real size, 85 60. Section of ordinary Quern. About one-fourteenth the usual size, 86 61. Upper Surface of Quern from the Crannog of Drumsloe. About one-ninth the real size, 87 62. Upper Surface of Quernstone from Roughan Lake. One-eighth the real size, 88 63. Quernstone from Lough Eyes. About one-tenth the real size, 88 64. Quernstones, with cross and geometrical decoration. About one-twelfth the real size, 89 65. Sculptured Stone from No. 1 Crannog, Lake of Drumgay. About one-eighth the real size, 90 66. Pitcher from Lough Faughan. About one-seventh the real size, 92 67. Fictile Vessel from Ballydoolough, restored, 92 68. Fictile Vessel, Drumgay Crannog, restored. Quarter size, 93 69. Restored Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-fourth the real size, 93 70. Restored Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-fifth the real size, 94 71. Baked Clay Pot-cover from Lough Eyes. One-fourth the real size, 94 72. Portion of a Perforated Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-half the real size, 95 73. Portion of a Perforated Vessel from Lough Eyes. One-third the real size, 95 74. Portion of Fictile Vessel found on Ballydoolough Crannog. One-half the real size, 95 75. Portion of Fictile Vessel found on Ballydoolough Crannog. One-half the real size, 96 76. Portion of Unornamented Vessel, 96 77. Rim Ornament of Fictile Ware, 97 78. Cross-inscribed Pottery, 97 79. Cross-inscribed Pottery, 97 80. Portion of Fictile Vessel found at Ballydoolough Crannog, 97 81. Portion of Fictile Vessel, with Ear, Drumgay Crannog. One-half size, 98 82. Rim Ornaments of Fictile Vessels, Drumgay Crannog. One-half size, 98 83- 97. Plates XVIII. and XIX.—Fragments of Fictile Vessels (various sizes.) 98. Fragment of Fictile Ware, Lough Eyes. One-half size, 99 99. Fragment of Fictile Ware, Lough Eyes. One-half size, 99 100. Fragment of Fictile Ware, 99 101. Stamped Pattern on Fragment of Fictile Ware, from Drumskimly, 100 102. Carved Wooden Vessel found at Cavancarragh, 101 103. Wooden Vessel from Ballydoolough Crannog, 102 104, 105. Plate XX.—Wooden Platters. 106. Mether, or Drinking Cup, from Tamlaght O’Crilly, 103 107. Wooden Mallet from Lisnacroghera, 104 108. Wooden Peg from Glencar, 104 109. Bone Spindle Whorl from Ardakillen, 104 110. Ovoid Piece of Polished Bone from Ardakillen, 105 ARTICLES OF THE TOILET, &c., OR OF PERSONAL ADORNMENT. 111- 117. Bone Pins with attached Heads, from the Crannog of Ballinderry, 106 118- 124. Plates XXI. and XXII.—Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog. Unnumbered—Ogham on fig. 118; Scoring on fig. 119; Scoring on fig. 120; Scoring on fig. 123; Scoring on ring of fig. 124; Scoring on Acus, fig. 124. 125. Bronze Wire Ring from Lisnacroghera. Full size, 109 126. Bronze Pin, with human heads, found in the Crannog of Loughravel. Full size, 109 127. Flattened Disc-headed Pin from Ballinderry. Full size, 109 128. Penannular Bronze Pin from Lagore. Full size, 109 129- 132. Bronze Pins, 110 Unnumbered—Figs. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, Bronze Pins from Crannogs and Street-cuttings, 111 133- 137. Iron Shears and Knives, 112 138. Bone Comb from Ardakillen, 113 139. Bone Comb from Ballinderry, 114 140. Bone Comb from Lagore, 114 141. Bone Comb from Lagore. Two-thirds real size, 114 142. Bronze Tweezers from Ballinderry, 115 143. Stone Pendant Amulet from Ballinderry Crannog, 115 144. Nodule of Clay-slate from Ballinderry Crannog, 115 144. Ornamentation on fig. 144, 116 145. Bronze Amulet or Ornament from Lisnacroghera, 116 146. Hinge Brooch of Bronze from Ardakillen, 117 147. Bronze Fibula from Lough Ravel, 118 148. Penannular Ring or Brooch from Lough Ravel, 118 149. Penannular Ring from Ardakillen. Two-thirds real size, 118 150. Hollow Bronze Penannular Rings from Lisnacroghera, 119 151. Bronze Stud, 119 152. Bronze Rivet, 119 153- 155. Bronze Circlets, 119 156. Pipe-clay Crucible, 120 157. Silver Brooch from the Crannog of Lough Ravel, 121 158. Stone Ring. One-third size, 121 159. Stone Ring. One-half size, 121 160. Jet Bracelet, or Ring. One-quarter size, 121 161. Glass Bracelet, or Ring. One-third size, 121 162- 164. Beads from Lagore, 123 165- 167. Beads from Lisnacroghera, 124 168, 169. Beads from Lough Ravel, 124 170. Glass Bead from Ballintlea, 124 MUSIC. 171. Bone Harp Pin from Ardakillen. Half size, 125 172. Trumpets in the Museum, R. I. A., 126 173. Showing riveting of Trumpet. Full size, 127 AMUSEMENTS. 174. Game Board, 130 175. Unperforated Bone Disc from Drumcliff, Co. Sligo. One-half size, 131 176, 177. Unperforated Bone Discs from Cloonfinlough. Full size, 131 178. Perforated ornamented Bone Disc from Lagore. One-half size, 131 179, 180. Perforated Bone Discs, with Spike, from Lagore. One-half size, 131 181. Stone Chessman in the British Museum, 132 INSCRIPTIONS. 182. Ogham found at Ballydoolough Crannog, 134 183. Scribed Stone from the Crannog of Ardakillen, 135 HORSE FURNITURE. 184. Cheek-pieces of Bits (Bronze), 136 185. Cheek-pieces of Bits from Lough Faughan and Ardakillen. Two-thirds real size, 137 186. Iron Bit from Lagore. One-fourth real size, 137 187. Enamelled Plate of Iron from Lagore. One-half size, 138 188. Inlaid Ornament of Mixed Metal from Lagore. Two-thirds real size, 138 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 189- 193. Plates of Bone, decorated. Use not known, 139 194. Rude Bone Spoon found at Cloneygonnel. Two-thirds real size, 140 195. Spatula-shaped Bone from Ballinderry, 140 196. Bronze Object found at Lagore. Full size, 143 197. Iron Pipe with Hook, from Lagore. Full size, 143 PART II. PLANS, SECTIONS, &c., AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF CRANNOGS, WITH MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES FOUND IN THEM. 198. Dug-out Canoe found near the Crannog of Lough Mourne, 173 199. Upper portion of Bronze Sheath. Full size, 175 200. Iron Sickle. Eleven inches from point of blade to end of tang, 176 201. Bronze Butt of Spear-shaft. Two-thirds natural size, 177 202. Plate XLVII.—General Plan of the Drained Lake of Cloneygonnel, alias Tonymore, 197 203. Do. General View of the exposed Lake Bed, 197 204. Do. Section of large Crannog, 197 205. Plan of Crannog, showing radial arrangement of the timbers, 199 206. Plate XLVIII.—General Plan of Drumkeery Lake, 200 207. Do. Plan of Promontory, with Crannog, 200 208. Fusus antiquus, 204 209. Part of Lough Annagh, enlarged from the Ordnance Survey six-inch Map, showing Sites of Crannogs, 209 210. General Plan of the Neighbourhood of the Crannog of Annagh, 212 211. Map showing former and present Summer and Winter Level of Lough Nahinch, 213 212. Plan of Submarine Crannog at Ardmore. One-half the scale of fig. 213, 215 213. Section of Submarine Crannog at Ardmore, 216 214. Spear-head of Bronze from Lough Gur. One-half real size, 218 215. Ferrule, showing Gold Ornamentation. Full-size, 218 216. Stone Mould for casting weapons, from Lough Gur, 219 217. Plan of Ballinlough, 221 218. General View of Ballinlough, 222 219. Plan and Section of Reed Island. Scale, 20 feet to 1 inch, 225 220. Plate XLIX.—View of Loughrea, showing Shore and Ash Island, 226 221. Do. Plan of Shore Island. Scale, 80 feet to 1 inch, 226 222. Plate XLIX.—Section of Shore Island, 226 223. Do. do. do., 226 224. Plan of Ash Island. Scale, 20 feet to 1 inch, 227 225. View of Loughrea, Island M’Coo in the distance, 228 226. General View of the Crannog of Loughannaderriga, Achill Island, 230 227. Miscellaneous Wooden Objects, 231 228. Whetstone. One-ninth real size, 232 229. Golden-bronze Pin. Full size, 232 230. Bronze Lamp from Cloonfinlough, 235 231. Section of one of the Ardakillen Crannogs, 236 232. Skull and Iron Fetters from the Crannog of Ardakillen. One-eighth real size, 237 233. Iron Fetters from one of the Strokestown Crannogs. One-third real size, 237 234. Plan of Crannog in Drumaleague Lake. Scale, 20 feet to 1 inch, 240 235. Section of second Crannog in Drumaleague Lake, 241 236. General View of Lochanacrannog, 246 237. General View of Ballygawley Lake and Crannog, 247 238. Beam, or Stretcher, binding tops of Piles, 10 feet 6 inches long by 9 inches broad, 247 LIST OF PLATES. LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND. Plate. Page Frontispiece.—Irish Lake-dwelling of the isolated type. I. Crannog Hut, Kilnamaddo. Restored from existing remains, 39 II. Crannog Hut discovered at Inver, Co. Donegal. Drawn from the Model in the Museum, R.I.A., 40 III. Front, side elevation, and ground plan, &c., of Crannog Hut, discovered at Inver, Co. Donegal, 40 IV. Single-piece Canoes, Paddle, and Anchors, 48 V. Curach, as used on the Boyne, 1848, 52 STONE, BONE, BRONZE, AND IRON IMPLEMENTS, &c. VI. Flint, Wood, and Bone Implements from Crannogs, 58 VII. Hafted Bronze Rapier Sword, showing both sides. Full size, 60 VIII. Iron Weapons and Manacle from Lagore, 61 IX. Weapons of Iron from Crannogs, 62 X. Iron Spear-head, from Lisnacroghera, side and edge view. Half-size, 63 XI. Portion of Spear-shaft, with ferrules and rivet of bronze. Full size, 64 XII. Sides of Bronze Sword Sheaths, from the Crannog of Lisnacroghera, 66 XIII. Iron Tools, &c., found in the bottom of a “dug-out” at Cornagall, 67 XIV. Front View of Bronze Shield from Lough Gur. Diameter, twenty-eight inches, 71 XV. Boss-like Objects, and Rings of Bronze, from Lisnacroghera. Full size, 72 WOODEN IMPLEMENTS. XVI. Wooden Yokes found in Donagh Bog and on the margin of Lough Erne, 79 [Pg xix] [Pg xx] [Pg xxi] HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. XVII. Culinary Utensils, Implements, &c., stone, bronze, wood, and iron, 82 XVIII. Fragments of Pottery, from No. 3 Crannog, Lough Eyes. (Discovered by W. F. Wakeman), 99 XIX. Fragments of Pottery, from No. 5 and No. 6 Crannogs, Lough Eyes. (Discovered by W. F. Wakeman), 99 XX. Wooden Platters, 102 ARTICLES OF THE TOILET, &c., OR OF PERSONAL ADORNMENT. XXI. Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog, 106 XXII. Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog, 107 XXIII. Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog, 108 XXIV. Iron and Bone Pins from Lagore, 111 XXV. Articles of Wood, 112 XXVI. Bronze Brooch from Lagore, 117 XXVII. Beads, composed of various materials, from Ardakillen, Lagore, Ballinderry, Drumdarragh, Cloonfinlough, and Lough Eyes, 122 MUSIC. XXVIII. Harp, from the Crannog of Ballinderry. Woodwork restored, 125 XXIX. Bronze Trumpet, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, 127 AMUSEMENTS. XXX. Stone and Bone Circular Discs from Crannogs, 132 HORSE FURNITURE. XXXI. Forefront of Ancient Irish Saddle. Back and Front view, 136 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. XXXII. Decorated Bones from the Crannogs of Ardakillen and Lagore. Use unknown, 139 XXXIII. Miscellaneous Articles found in Crannogs, 141 XXXIV. Miscellaneous Articles found in Crannogs, 142 XXXV. Objects of various Materials from the Crannogs of Cloonfinlough, and now in the British Museum, 143 XXXVI. Fishing Implements of Iron from Crannogs. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, from Ardakillen or Strokestown Crannogs. No. 9 from Lagore. All one-third real size, 144 PART II. PLANS, SECTIONS, AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF CRANNOGS, WITH MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES FOUND IN THEM. XXXVII. Bronze Weapons from Crannog Sites on Toome Bar, 171 XXXVIII. Crannogs in Lough Mourne, 172 XXXIX. Haft of Iron Sword, with Bronze Mountings, from Lisnacroghera. Full size, 174 XL. Upper and lower portion of Sides of the Bronze Sheath, from Lisnacroghera, full size, of which a half-size representation is given, Plate XII. fig. 2, 175 XLI. Elevation, Plan, Section, and details of the Ballydoolough Crannog, Co. Fermanagh, 182 XLII. Drumgay Crannogs, 184 XLIII. Lough Eyes Crannogs. Plate I., 189 XLIV. Lough Eyes Crannogs. Plate II., 190 XLV. General View of the half-drained Lake of Loughavilly, 191 XLVI. Remains, &c., found at Loughavilly, Kilnamaddo, and “The Miracles,” 192 XLVII. (Figs. 202, 203, 204).—General Plan of the Bed of the Drained Lake of Cloneygonnel, alias Tonymore; General View of the exposed Lake Bed; Section of Crannog, 197 XLVIII. (Figs. 206, 207).—General Plan of Drumkeery Lake, and Plan of Promontory, with Crannog, 200 XLIX. (Figs. 220, 221, 222, 223).—View of Loughrea, showing Shore and Ash Island; Plan of Shore Island; Section of Shore Island; Section of Shore Island, 226 L. Map of Ireland, showing approximate distribution of all known Lacustrine Sites, 250 ERRATA. Pages 74, 168, n., 182, 234, for Cervus elephas, read Cervus elaphus. Page 90—fig. 65, for No. 1 Crannog, read No. 4 Crannog. ” 180—Crannog-na-n-Duini (see p. 150) is omitted in the enumeration of sites in the Co. Donegal. ” 181—Fort Lough is situated in the Co. Donegal, not (as given) in the Co. Derry. LAKE DWELLINGS. PART I. ORIGIN, CONSTRUCTION, AND CIVILIZATION OF THE ANCIENT LACUSTRINE HABITATIONS OF IRELAND, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THEIR REMAINS, AND THE ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN AND AROUND THEM. LAKE DWELLINGS OF IRELAND. “To look back to antiquity is one thing; to go back to it is another. If we look back to antiquity it should be as those who are winning a race—to press forward the faster, and to leave the beaten still farther behind.” et us travel back in thought some thousands of years, and picture to ourselves the aspect of Erin at that period. After all, this retrospect is comparatively short, if we take as correct the present computed period of man’s existence on this globe. Geology now assigns to the human race a duration it was long considered heterodox to imagine: generation upon generation, who shall say how many, lie beneath the sod over which our footsteps now pass. The words of Genesis are in no way antagonistic to the discoveries of modern geologists, nor even to the theory of evolution. That the term “day,” as used in the Book of Genesis, is not to be understood as confined to a mere duration of twenty-four hours, but should be taken as an undefined period of time, is a point now so generally admitted that it is scarcely needful to quote the words of Scripture, that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” In common parlance we speak of events that occurred “in days of old” without intention to limit the idea to periods of twenty-four hours: the form of expression may be held to cover an indefinite number of centuries. In the modern acceptation of the word used to denote the duration of twenty- four hours, we consider the day to be represented by the morning and the evening: there is the brightness of morn followed by the gloom of eve. How different is the idea conveyed by the words of Moses, who was versed in all the learning of the Egyptians, “the Evening and the Morning were the first day,” and so on to the end of the six days or intervals of time. While in its course through the heavens our planet was in process of solidifying, “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Here we have the evening: afterwards “there was light,” that is to say, morning followed, marking full completion of the first day, or interval of time in the earth’s progress towards its present state. It is therefore plain that the term evening cannot be considered to represent a decline from the state of the previous period; rather it betokens the nature of the morn about to follow. We watch with interest the signs of the evening, not in relation to the day which has already passed away, but as foreshowing the kind of morn that is to succeed. “… oh who can strive To comprehend the vast, the awful truth Of the eternity that hath gone by, And not recoil from the dismaying sense Of human impotence?” In looking back through the pages of history we arrive at a period when all written records cease; but the remains of [Pg xxii] [Pg xxiii] [Pg xxiv] [Pg 1] [Pg 2] the dwellings of man, of his arts and industries, enable us to trace out in some degree the general routine of his every- day life. In the matter now under consideration, prehistoric archæology interests chiefly as demonstrating, in a practical manner, the state of the people who occupied Erin long before the beginning of authentic history. Recent researches enable us to lift the veil that heretofore concealed the past of subsided lake-dwellings in Ireland, to bid “Forgotten generations live again, Assume the bodily shapes they wore of old”; to realize to a great extent the physical past of their inhabitants, and in imagination to partake of their daily life. If till lately the learned were on this subject purblind, it is the less surprising that the uncultured fisherman, gliding in his skiff over the placid surface of the waters and peering into the clear depths, should have failed to recognize that the mouldering stems projecting from the oozy bottom were traces of the love of security of his forefathers, that in the muddy matrix of the ever-accumulating lacustrine deposit, are preserved material evidence of a state of society long since passed away. Until the first half of this nineteenth century all memory of the ancient lake-dwellers of Ireland seemed to have vanished completely, but with the study of ethnology the interest excited in tracing out the idiosyncrasies of the various races of man penetrated to Ireland also, and now “few things can be more interesting than the spectacle of an ancient, long-forgotten people, thus rising, as it were, from the waters of oblivion to take that place which properly belongs to it in the history of the human race.”[1] Beyond the limits of history and archæology there extends a boundless period of human existence. Far back in this indefinite past we catch glimpses of a shadowy race, the first dwellers in Erin, who, it may be fairly surmised, were in a very rude state—nomad hunters and fishers, subsisting by the chase, which they supplemented by indigenous wild fruits: “Rugged type of primal man, Grim utilitarian, Loving woods for hunt and prowl, Lake and hill for fish and fowl.” They formed their ordinary implements and their weapons of warfare from flint, stone, bone, shells, and even wood. “They were, then were not; they have lived and died, No trace, no record of their date remaining.” New comer succeeded new comer in Erin. This epoch was eminently characterized by the sway of brute force—a warlike front alone secured immunity from spoliation; in short, these times were governed on “… the good old plan That he should take who has the power, And he should keep—who can.” Wooded nature of the Country.—The ancient classical name of Ireland was Ierne, which some etymologists derive through its Greek form from the Celtic, signifying, they say, “the extremity,”[2] the “Ultima Thule” of classic writers; a mystic land, girded by unknown seas, and protected by phantom dangers, the product of imagination, “Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire.” The witty and eccentric Dean Swift, remarking on the custom of writers of his day, said:— “So geographers in Afric’ maps With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o’er inhabitable downs Place elephants, instead of towns.” It is strange how long this ignorance both as regards Ireland and the “Dark Continent” continued. One of the earliest names of Ireland, given her by her own native poets, is very descriptive, Fidh-inis, “the woody island.” This name at once brings before our minds the then characteristic feature of the country, even as its modern poetical designation, “The Emerald Isle,” depicts the luxuriant vegetation watered by the cloud-masses of the Atlantic. The bogs of Ireland, however, speak even more eloquently on this point than her bards, for in these bogs vestiges of ancient forests are found buried, sometimes at great depth below the present surface; the remains of oak, birch, mountain ash, alder, yew, beech, deal, &c., testify to the variety of the arboreous vegetation: they lie either prostrate in a horizontal position, or bear marks of having been felled by man. According to old bardic accounts, the first proceeding chronicled of the earliest settlers was the clearing of timber off many great plains in various parts of Ireland, evidently showing the paucity of arable land. Wild Animals.—This continuous forest must have swarmed with wild animals of every description. Wolves, which even in the present day prove a scourge occasionally in parts of Europe, were numerous; the caves which abounded in the country were the home of the bear, and the boar fed beneath the deep forest shade. In these remote times, too, the Irish elk, with its huge, broad, branching antlers, a creature of immense size and strength, was existent. Remains of this gigantic deer, the Megaceros Hibernicus, have been found, covered by the peat at various depths, sometimes close to the surface; and from allusions in Irish poetry and legends[3] it is more than probable that it continued to exist down to a much later period than most of the other animals now extinct. In a very curious legend, one of the great Irish bards who is reputed to have lived in the third century, and to have himself attained a very advanced age, is described as reciting at [Pg 3] [Pg 4] [Pg 5] a banquet a poem in which he extolled the greatness and strength of his contemporaries and forefathers, and described the tall gigantic deer hunted by them. His listeners laughed incredulously, whereat the old man rose in anger, and going to a neighbouring heap where were piled the relics of bygone hunts, he selected therefrom a shank-bone, and returning to the banquet, took from the table one of the shank-bones of the deer on which the guests were then feasting, and dropped it through the hollow of the bone he had brought in. This legend of the dim old times tends to prove that at a very remote period tradition alone kept up the memory of the Irish Bighorn.[4] The fact of the co-existence of the Megaceros with man does not, however, rest on mere legend; for in a locality called the “Elk Hole,” Co. Wexford, numerous skeletons of the extinct deer have been found in company with the remains of man, also a skull and horns, in the “kitchen midden” of the largest of the lake dwellings in Loughrea, Co. Galway, measuring over 13 feet from tip to tip of the antlers;[5] whilst in the refuse heap at Breagho, Co. Fermanagh, portion of an antler (according to the opinion of Professor Owen) was discovered, sawn and perforated with holes. It does not necessarily follow that this relic had belonged to an animal killed and utilized by the lake-dwellers; the horn may have been found by them on some spot where it had rested for ages. However, in the lake-dwelling at Cloonfinlough, Co. Roscommon, bones of the Megaceros Hibernicus have been dug up in a very broken state, as if fractured for the purpose of extracting the marrow, whilst remains of the Megaceros, in company with a greenstone celt, were discovered in a cave at Cappagh, the bones broken and formed into implements by the hands of man.[6] In Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, wherein is the site of a lake dwelling, remains of the Cervus tarandus, or reindeer,[7] were found, together with those of the bear; and near Ballybetagh, Co. Dublin, similar remains were associated with those of the Megaceros, whilst elsewhere bones of the Cervus alces, or true elk, have been exhumed, and traces of the mammoth, Elephas primigenius, have been found near Dungannon. Climatic Changes.—If reliance can be placed on the accounts of classical writers, it would appear that two thousand years ago an excessive degree of cold prevailed in the climate of Europe. The great number and extent, of forests, lakes, and morasses, which according to classical authors existed in their time, must have rendered the climate of Europe exceedingly cold and moist. The forests have nearly all been felled, the stagnant water drained, thus producing a very considerable difference between the temperature described as existing in these latitudes 2000 years ago and in the present day. What occurred on the Continent occurred also in Ireland, which, shaded with forests and abounding in marshes, must have had an atmosphere more frigid than if its soil were then, as now, freely exposed to solar influence. Claudian applied to Ireland the epithet ‘icy’: Strabo looked on it as a country scarcely habitable; Mela described the climate as cold and unfavourable: however, to counterbalance these authorities, it may be inferred from Tacitus that Ireland was considered milder in climate than Gaul; in that point of view Æthicus says it was superior to Britain, and Solinus states that it abounded in pastures. Owing to the disappearance of Erin’s former leafy mantle, and the absence of pestilential exhalations from stagnant fens, the summers have become much colder and the winters warmer than in remote times. The turf-cutter in Ireland finds that “usually the roots and trunks of the trees under the peat, or in the lowest strata, are principally those of the oak and yew, as if prior to the growth of the peat the low country was a vast forest of these trees. It would appear that subsequently mosses and other peat-producing plants began to grow and flourish, until eventually they stopped the drainage, and formed an envelope of peat, thus killing the trees, which one by one toppled over and were buried in the succeeding growth of peat. After the disappearance of the major portion of the oak trees, the bogs, year by year, gradually increased in depth, until apparently suddenly, for some as yet unexplained cause, their growth ceased, and on their surface forests, principally of deals, sprang up.”[8] Thus we see that since the glacial period there have been great changes in the aspect and the surface of Ireland: first, the great oak forest age; then an age in which was an active growth of peat; thirdly, a period when forests of deal sprang up; fourthly, again a period of luxuriant peat growth. The remains of human handicraft, in the form of log-houses or lake-dwellings, have been found buried under each and all these peat growths: a depth of 25 feet had overgrown the log-house discovered at Inver, Co. Donegal, and on the floor-level, outside the building, were traces of the corkers of the great oak forest age. It is practically impossible to estimate the rate at which a bog grows: if there be a fall, and consequent drainage, it will increase but little, whereas an undrained bog augments with considerable rapidity: so many contingencies are thus introduced as practically to invalidate in a great degree calculations regarding the growth of peat over prehistoric or other remains. G. H. Kinahan has estimated that in undisturbed conditions each year’s growth, represented by a layer or lamina somewhat resembling the markings on a forest tree, would average one hundred laminæ to the foot in white or surface turf, two to three hundred to the foot in brown turf, and six to eight hundred to the foot in black turf, so that the accumulation of 25 feet above the log-house at Inver, according to this painstaking calculation, would represent an age of startling remoteness. Lakes.—Ireland was a land of lakes as well as of forests, for the white-shell marl, which forms the substratum of peat bog in low-lying situations, was formerly covered by water, till gradually displaced by the encroachments of the surrounding bog. Many of the smiling districts of to-day were then covered by water— “Now land, now lake, and shores with forest crowned.” Lakes were thickly scattered over the face of the country—lakes of irregular shape connected by stagnant shallows— the majority of small size, half marsh, half water, fringed with forest, and abounding in fish: The axe of the primitive pioneer and the modern engineers’ spade have revolutionized the aspect of the landscape: this process however was [Pg 6] [Pg 7] [Pg 8] gradual, the forests were only driven back little by little, and it is comparatively yesterday since draining operations on a large scale have been carried out; within the memory of persons still living there were numerous localities throughout the kingdom, where “The bittern’s lonely boom was heard Along the waving reeds.” It is only after drainage on a great, or rather thorough scale, that anything like complete inspection of the original structure of a lake dwelling, or any extensive “find” can be hoped for, the majority of such sites being surrounded by soft pulpy bog to such a depth and extent as to bewilder the most enthusiastic explorer. Lough or Loch is the term applied both in Ireland and Scotland to a lake: it also signifies an arm of the sea. The shores of small sheets of water, and marshes with sedge-grown borders, were generally surrounded by bog, and the annual growth of this latter substance gradually encroached on the lake, till its former shining surface was changed into a peat moss. It has been remarked, that occasionally the silt now occupying the former lake-bed, demonstrates the fact, that the under stratum was formed in great measure by decomposed vegetable matter, probably aqueous plants and the shed foliage of the encircling forest: the later deposit is considerably mixed with fine clay. The most probable solution of this problem is, that on the disappearance of the woods the exposed surface of the soil was washed down from the surrounding heights by every shower that fell, and if the land were tilled this denudation would be accelerated. Consequent upon the discharge of the water deepening and extending the outlet, and the contemporaneous deposition of matter held in solution in the lake-bed, small loughs in some instances now occupy sites which, from natural evidences, it is apparent must formerly have been extensive sheets of water; in other instances the large lake of ancient days, is now represented by several of diminutive size, connected by marshes that had at one time formed part of a great whole. In ancient times, however, the lakes most frequently appear to have gradually increased in height: this was due to the silting up of the outlet, under any circumstance a long and tedious process; for though the aqueous growth on the bottom of the outlet would, during the summer, impede and catch the heavy particles washed down or held in solution by the current, yet in winter, when it decayed, most of the accumulated matter would be swept away, so that in a hundred years the increase in height of the outlet would be scarcely perceptible. What then must be the age of lake dwellings, where three and even four superincumbent floors testify to the necessity of providing against the ever-rising water level! Lakes, marshes, and woods, have in all ages afforded shelter to the conquered, and have often enabled them to set the invader at defiance. Pliny describes the Caledonian forests as “Romanorum armis terminus.” A race inferior in numbers, in arms, or in physical development, would avail themselves of artificial or natural bulwarks to ward off the attacks of dreaded enemies, and water and woods have from the earliest times formed important factors in the art of defence. One cause to which may be ascribed the first erection of lake dwellings in Ireland was the original paucity of open country, for on the arrival of the first colonists (if credence is to be given to the early native annals) the only plain not covered with forest was the level district stretching between Dublin and Howth. This statement of the superabundance of forest is, to some extent, corroborated by the vast number of local names derived from Irish words signifying woods or timber of some description. However, the most probable cause of their erection was to serve as places of refuge, for these island homes would necessarily provide safety and protection; indeed such, in their later or historical existence, was undoubtedly the cause of their continuous occupation. It is quite obvious that in primitive times, especially, a habitation on water was of great security—more secure than could be a stockaded doon or fort. Lake dwellings have been universally employed both in ancient and modern times: similar physical surroundings originated practically the same style of structures amongst far distant and even ocean-separated tribes. “Man is moulded to a remarkable degree, physically as well as mentally, by manner of living, food, and climate. Among barbarous nations,” says Humboldt, “we find a tribal, rather than an individual physiognomy; there are no varieties of intellectual development to stamp the face with diversity of character: thus the slave-dealers in Upper Egypt never ask for the individual character of a slave; they only inquire where he was born, his character being that of his tribe.” Let us now, like Puck, “Put a girdle round about the earth,” and inspect these habitations for ourselves. Ancient classical writers are not altogether silent on the subject. Hippocrates, who lived upwards of 400 years b.c., when describing the manner of life of the inhabitants of Phasis, a region of the Black Sea, says that the country was fenny and wooded, the climate warm and humid; but despite these disadvantages, the natives lived entirely in the swamps, “for their dwellings are constructed of wood and reeds, and are erected amidst the waters.” He adds that they seldom practise walking, either in the city or the market, but sail up and down in canoes constructed out of single trees, for there are many canals there.[9] An account is given by Herodotus of the abode of a Thracian tribe, the Pæonians, who lived on Lake Prasias, now Lake Takinos, situated in the country known in the present day as Roumelia. The habitations of this tribe were reared on platforms, raised on piles above the water, and connected with the shore by a narrow causeway of similar formation. This tribe successfully resisted the attack of a Persian army under the satrap Myabyzus. The Father of History thus describes this settlement:—“The habitations on the lake of Prasias are of this nature—floors laid on lofty poles stand in [Pg 9] [Pg 10] [Pg 11] Fig. 1.—Sketch Section of Swiss Pile Dwelling. the middle of the lake,[10] with a narrow entrance by one bridge from the mainland. All the inhabitants used to drive, at their common expense, the piles that served to support the floors. Subsequently they have adopted the following regulation: for every woman a man marries he is to drive three piles, which they procure from a mountain called Orbelus. Now, every man takes several wives. They dwell here in the following manner: each has a hut in which he lives, and a trap-door in the floor opening down to the water. To their horses and draught cattle they give as fodder fish, of which there is such an abundance that when one opens his trap-door, and lets down his empty basket into the lake by a cord, after waiting only a short time, he hauls it up full of fish.”[11] The fishermen of this lake still continue, as in the time of Herodotus, to inhabit huts built over the water.[12] In Layard’s work, descriptive of the discoveries on the site of Nineveh, there is an engraving of a bas-relief from the palace of Sennacherib, which represents an artificial island, apparently formed by weaving together the tall reeds that grew on the banks of the Euphrates; and a prehistoric age is indicated by the dwellings which existed in the Gocktscha lake in Armenia. It is certain that lake dwellings were used as places of permanent abode. Remains of such works of ancient date are, on the continent of Europe, by no means confined to the area of Switzerland, to which country they were for some time popularly supposed to belong exclusively; they have been found in Savoy, in the north of Italy, Würtemberg, Bavaria, Austria (Carinthia), Hungary, Mecklenburg, Denmark, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and also in France. If dependence can be placed on remains found in these numerous and widely-distributed sites, many of them would appear to have been occupied so late as the period of the Romans; and the silence of their historians on the subject is therefore singular, as in general the characteristic traits of the tribes with which the Roman legions came in contact were depicted with remarkable fidelity. In Switzerland, during the year 1829, an excavation was made on the shore at Ober Meilen, on the lake of Zurich, for the purpose of deepening the harbour; and although piles and other antiquities were then discovered, they appear to have attracted no attention. So matters stood till the winter of 1853-4, when an extraordinary drought and long- continued frost caused the lakes to sink to a level never before known. This circumstance presented great facilities for the reclamation of land along the shores, and the inhabitants of Ober Meilen proceeded to rescue from the water some of the land thus temporarily exposed. When making excavations to form an embankment, they came upon a net-work of wooden piles, a great number of stags’ horns, and various implements, only two of which were of bronze. The discovery of this settlement aroused peculiar interest, not merely on account of its being apparently the first recorded, but because it evidently belonged almost exclusively to the stone age. Similar structures were immediately after discov...