Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and UsesFergusson, James
History
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses
Fergusson, James
Megalithic monuments
but whether they were executed with a hammer, or pick direct, or by a
chisel driven by a hammer, is by no means clear. My own impression is,
that it would be very difficult indeed to execute these patterns with a
hammer of any sort, and that a chisel must have been used, but whether
of flint, bronze, or iron, there is no evidence to show.
[Illustration: 75. Cell in Cairn L, at Lough Crew.--E. Conwell.]
Cairn H, though only between 5 and 6 feet in height and 54 feet in
diameter, seems to have been the only one on the hill not previously
rifled, and yielded a most astonishing collection of objects to its
explorer. The cell was of the usual cruciform plan, 24 feet from the
entrance to the rear, and 16 feet across the lateral chambers. In
the passage and crypts of this cairn Mr. Conwell collected some 300
fragments of human bones, which must have belonged to a considerable
number of separate individuals; 14 fragments of rude pottery, 10 pieces
of flint, 155 sea-shells in a perfect condition, besides pebbles and
small polished stones, in quantities.
The most remarkable part of the collection consisted of 4884 fragments,
more or less perfect, of bone implements. These are now in the
Dublin Museum, and look like the remains of a paper-knife-maker's
stock-in-trade. Most of them are of a knife shape, and almost all more
or less polished, but without further ornamentation; but 27 fragments
appear to have been stained, 11 perforated, 501 engraved with rows of
fine lines; 13 combs were engraved on both sides, and 91 engraved by
compass with circles and curves of a high order of art. On one, in
cross-hatch lines, is the representation of an antlered stag, the only
attempt to depict a living thing in the collection.
Besides these, there were found in this cairn seven beads of amber,
three small beads of glass of different colours, two fragments, and
a curious molten drop of glass, 1 inch long, trumpet-shaped at one
end, and tapering towards the other extremity; six perfect and eight
fragments of bronze rings, and seven specimens of iron implements, but
all, as might be expected, very much corroded by rust. One of these
presents all the appearance of being the leg of a compass, with which
the bone implements may have been engraved, and one was an iron punch,
5 inches long, with a chisel-shaped point, bearing evidence of the use
of the mallet at the opposite end.
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