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
Bones of the red deer (_Cervus elephas_) are extremely plentiful in
lacustrine sites. It is the wild animal most frequently mentioned in
early Irish history, and of which there were many until a comparatively
modern epoch: so late as 1752 they abounded in the barony of Erris,
county Mayo, and some few exist still in Killarney. The head and
antlers here shown came from the crannog of Ballinderry, county
Westmeath. The horns in this specimen are still attached to the
cranium, and there were originally seven tines on the right, and
eight on the left side. Bones of the _Magaceros Hibernicus_, or Irish
big-horn, of the wolf and fox, of a small breed of horse, and of the
ass, have been also met with. The remains of sheep belong to the horned
class. There are several specimens of the four-horned variety of the
goat (fig. 42), but those of the ordinary kind are more numerous:
figs. 40 and 41 are from Dunshaughlin. Amongst the vast collection
of animal remains on the site of this crannog were heads of canine
animals: of the largest of these the accompanying cut gives a faithful
representation. “It is nearly eleven inches in length, measured from
the end of the occipital ridge to the alveolar process at the roots of
the upper incisors, and is principally characterized by the magnitude
of the crest.”[104] The profile view of the outline, and the prolonged
muzzle, rather lead to the belief of its having belonged to the true
Irish wolf-dog of former times, a large long-coated hound, of an
iron-grey colour.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.
Cranium of Wolf-Hound.]
According to the best authorities, there were in Europe in early
times four great types of oxen: first, the _Bos priscus_, or Urus, the
great Auroch, that even in classic times roamed through the forests
of Germany; and its bones have been found in Swiss lacustrine sites:
it was of great size, had long upright horns, a narrow forehead, high
frontal crest, projecting orbits, and a warm shaggy coat, reddish-brown
in colour. The second type, the _Bos primigenus_, was found by the
Romans amongst the wilds of Europe; it had long, slightly-curved
horns, set on at right angles to the head, but turning forward at the
extremities, and spreading to a breadth of nearly five feet from tip
to tip. The third variety, the _Bos trochocerus_ had a very narrow
head, and long cylindrical horn-cores rising high above the level
of the back of the occiput, then curving forwards and inwards. The
fourth type, which is almost peculiar to Ireland, has been denominated
_Bos longifrons_, the long-fronted or small fossil ox--somewhat of a
misnomer it must be confessed, because, properly speaking, it should
be denominated _Bos latifrons_, from the exceeding breadth of forehead
and face, in which particular it differs in an especial manner from the
three former.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Cranium of domesticated Bos longifrons.]
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