The precise state of civilization and learning in Ireland in pre-Christian times is difficult to determine owing to the fact that there is no native contemporary evidence of a documentary nature, while the references in the works of foreign writers are few in number and generally vague in character. Fortunately, however, there are a few sources of information which have been made available by the laborious and scholarly researches of generations of investigators. The principal of these sources are: 1. Archæology. 2. The so-called Brehon Laws. 3. Early Irish Literature. 4. Foreign Testimony. 5. Ogam Inscriptions. A brief survey of the evidence supplied by each of these may be helpful in determining the nature and extent of Irish pagan culture. ARCHÆOLOGICAL EVIDENCE: Archæological research shows that Ireland was inhabited from very early times though it is impossible to fix the exact chronological limit of the earliest colonization. Passing over the beginnings of civilization which are exemplified by the crude implements and other remains of the Stone Age, we note that in the Bronze Age when the art of working metals had been discovered the existing specimens of the work of these ancient craftsmen point to a relatively advanced stage of civilization. Indeed, an examination of the discoveries of this period amply justifies the statement that “in point of wealth, artistic feeling and workmanship, the Irish craftsmen of the Bronze Age surpassed those of Britain.”[1] The doyen of prehistoric chronology, Dr. Oscar Montelius of Stockholm, having studied the antiquities of the British Isles, gave the result of his labours in a memoir published in 1918.[2] This work is now the standard authority on this subject. Dr. Montelius divides the Bronze Age into five periods. In the first period he includes the Transitional Period where copper was in use (Copper period) which he places between the middle of the third and the beginning of the second millenium, B.C. One of the greatest living Irish archæologists, Mr. George Coffey, while agreeing with the Scandinavian as to the division into five periods, would not place the first period so early as has been suggested by Dr. Montelius, but agrees that the first period ended between 2000 B.C. and 1800 B.C. Both writers would place the end of the fifth period, that is, the end of the Bronze Age about 350 B.C. Thus we may consider the Irish Bronze Age as extending approximately from 2000 B.C. to 350 B.C. Mr. Coffey in one of his valuable works gives numerous illustrations representative of each period.[3] The originals are nearly all in the National Museum, Dublin, where Mr. Coffey is the official Keeper of Irish Antiquities. A notable feature of the finds of this period is the abundance and variety of the gold ornaments. The collection of gold ornaments of Irish workmanship is the largest in the British Isles being twelve or thirteen times