The Lake Dwellings of Ireland: Or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs.Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory)
History
The Lake Dwellings of Ireland: Or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs.
Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory)
Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Ireland
inch to a foot), that had evidently formed part of the structure, were
found scattered about.[203] On the western side of the island, being
the one most exposed to the action of the water, the stakes were in
greatest number, placed four, and at one point even five, feet deep.
In some instances their upper extremities had been inserted in holes
cut for their reception in beams of oak laid horizontally, and although
only one such beam was found still _in situ_, yet an inhabitant of the
locality stated that within his memory many of the horizontal timbers
could be seen actually resting upon the stakes or piles, just below the
surface of the water. The kitchen-midden of the dwelling contained a
considerable quantity of bones, intermixed with numerous fragments of
pottery. A selection of the bones having been forwarded to Professor
Richard Owen for analysis, he pronounced them to be parts of _Bos
longifrons_, _Cervus elephas_, _Sus scrofa_, and _Equus asinus_. In a
more or less restored form, characteristic specimens of the pottery
are figured (_ante_, pp. 92, 95, 96, 97). There were not many articles
of bronze, but mention may be made of a plate of that metal, oblong
in form, about as thick as a sixpenny-piece, and measuring five and
a-half inches in length, by four and a-half inches in breadth; it
retained a number of rivets, and appeared like a patch off some pan or
dish. In Ireland the majority of cauldrons or dishes composed of thin
golden bronze are usually found to have been carefully mended. Of wood,
a vessel was discovered in an entire state, but from long saturation
reduced almost to a pulp (_ante_, p. 102, fig. 103); and there was a
small oaken vessel formed with staves. There were also balls of stone,
varying in size from that of an orange to a walnut; several querns, and
the inscribed stone described and figured (_ante_, p. 134).[204]
_Coolyermer_ is the name of a lake four miles from Enniskillen, in the
direction of Letterbreen; it contains an island which seemed to be
composed entirely of oaken beams; the water, however, was too high to
admit of an examination being made.
_Drumdarragh_, otherwise _Trillick_, has been recently thoroughly
examined by W. F. Wakeman, whose report, accompanied by numerous
drawings of remains discovered within the crannog, is prepared for
publication in the _Journal of the Royal Hist. and Arch. Association
of Ireland_. To the Museum of that Society the Earl of Enniskillen, in
1875, presented an oak paddle found at Drumdarragh crannog, in company
with a single-tree canoe that had been unfortunately destroyed.[205]
[Illustration: Plate XLII.
DRUMGAY CRANNOGS
W. F. Wakeman, 1870.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account