In a short time very little of either the gangway or stockades remained, so much had been broken up and removed by the peasantry. A trench--twenty feet long by five wide--having been cut as near the centre of the island as possible, there was found, at about eight inches under the surface, a very closely-laid pavement of irregular-sized boulder stones; then a stratum of black earth, with occasional fragments of bones through it, became exposed, and about six inches beneath this was a considerable layer of burnt earth, with several inches of unburnt clay under it. It is evident that the height of the island had been raised and a new surface pavement laid, for then came a second very closely-laid floor of large-sized, flat-surfaced stones, beneath which were alternate layers of black earth, burnt clay, and marl, reaching down to the log flooring, and interspersed, like the one above it, with occasional bones and fragments of bones. A human skull, and portions of others, were got on the exterior edge. Between the island and the ruined church were found two single-piece oak canoes, little more than two feet wide, the stern of one being perforated with numerous auger holes about an inch in diameter.[253] Close to the island were numerous articles of a miscellaneous description, some of great antiquity, others of more modern date; also a deposit of bones of _Bos longifrons_, _Cervus elaphus_, _Equus caballus_, _Sus scrofa_, _Capra hircus_, fallow deer, sheep, fowl, dogs, &c. One or two osseous fragments, said to be human, were found in the lowest stratum, together with splintered bones and horns of the _Megaceros hibernicus_. Traces of this great “Bighorn” have (as already noticed) been found also in the crannog of Breagho, in the lacustrine settlement in Loughrea, and in Ballinlough, _i.e._ in connection with four crannog sites, whilst the exploration of the cave of Ballynamintra,[254] situated near Cappagh, county Waterford, has proved the contemporaneity of man with the _Megaceros_. In that cave, and lying but a little over the stratum which contained the bones of the _Megaceros_, was found the bone handle of what, judging from its ferruginous colour, appeared to have been an iron blade.[255] [Illustration: Fig. 230. Bronze Lamp, from Cloonfinlough.]