inches broad, but separated from the main oval by an immense block of stone.[50] [Illustration: Plan of the Deerpark Monument, Co. Sligo.] This monument was long a puzzle to archæologists. ‘At present it is unique,’ wrote Fergusson; ‘if some similar example could be discovered, perhaps we might guess its riddle.’ It remained for Colonel Wood-Martin to explain the character of this ‘Irish Stonehenge.’ ‘Excavations,’ he writes, ‘made in the four smaller divisions, at the eastern and western extremities of the monument, clearly demonstrate the fact that they _had been formerly covered like ordinary kistvaens with roofing slabs_, as these were found lying in the ground in a fragmentary state, when the sod was turned up. In these four excavations human and animal bones were discovered, all uncalcined. With them was a flint flake. Explorations in the central enclosure were not attended with equally decisive results; for although in two instances some traces of osseous remains were found, yet in other spots the soil appeared to be undisturbed. The conclusion, therefore, may be safely drawn that the eastern and western “aisles” are simply uncovered kistvaens; that they were erected when inhumation burial was practised, and when flint instruments were in use; but whether the central enclosure had been used for burial, or merely for ceremonial observances before committing the bodies to the tomb, could not be determined with any degree of certainty.’[51] The osseous remains found in various parts of the monument were submitted to the judgment of several experts, who pronounced them to be mostly human, and to have belonged to persons of various ages. Some were evidently those of young children. The bones of the lower animals noticed comprised those of deer, of the horse (apparently), and some of swine. There were also bones of rabbits and hares, as likewise some of birds. All seemed to be strangely mixed together; but the remains in no instance exhibited the action of fire. It is probable that the interments were neolithic, and the animal bones the relics of the funeral feast. The flint flake ‘shows traces of careful chipping for a short distance round the segment of a circle which forms its cutting edge, the remainder of the tool being left in a rough unfinished state, with thick blunt sides.’ It belongs to the class of articles described by Sir W. Wilde as approaching in form, but not altogether taking the shape of, a stone celt.[52] [Illustration: Cairn, on Cairn’s Hill, Co. Sligo.] * * * * *