i82 The Irish Naturalist. Nov. Dec, 



the short canines and the large round eye-sockets, and the 

 back of the skull being more vertical than in wild forms 

 they botli indicate that the animals were in a state of 

 semi-domestication. On the other hand the upper row of 

 teeth are somewhat more crowded and complex in the 

 Irish skull than in the Swiss one, and the nasal bones are 

 longer. The lachrymal bone in comparison with that of 

 the Wild Boar is high and short in the Swiss and Irish 

 turf-pig and the skull broad. Altogether although the 

 Dunshaughlin skull is clearly referable to the Swiss turf-pig, 

 it belongs to a somewhat more advanced type than the 

 Lattrigen skull. From the dimensions and figures given 

 of the various Swiss pig skulls by Dr. Otto,^ the Irish skull 

 appears to approach the La Tene type. The Lattrigen 

 skull is Neolithic in age, whereas the one from La Tene 

 belongs to the early Iron age. Thus it is fairly well 

 established that the domesticated pig which lived in Ireland 

 w^hen the Dunshaughlin crannog was inhabited by human 

 beings, that is to say, about the loth century, was of the 

 same type and breed as the domesticated pig which roamed 

 about the Swiss lake dwellings a thousand ^''ears earlier. 

 Since the Swiss turf-pig had already been domesticated in 

 Switzerland during Palaeolithic times while we possess no 

 evidence of its existence in Ireland at so early a period, 

 it may be assumed that it was imported to this country 

 from the continent and not vice versa. This view agrees 

 with the generally accepted opinion that Ireland was first 

 colonized by people coming from the continent of Europe, 

 and it seems likely that some early tribes brought pigs 

 with them which could easily be conveyed across the sea 

 even by primitive boats. That the same breed of pig 

 also existed in England is proved by the discovery^ of its 

 remains in the lake-village of Glastonbury in Somersetshire. 

 It is believed that this village flourished during the time 

 of the first Roman invasion of England, that is to say, 

 about the same time as the La Tene period. 



^ Otto, F, " Ostcologische Studien zur Geschichte des Torfschweins." 

 Geneve, iqoi. 



^ Bulleid, A., and H. Ci. Gray, " The Glastonbury Lake Village," 

 2 vols., Glastonbury, 191 7. 



