Shell-mounds at Rosape7ina, North Donegal. 51 



Works of art among the shell-mounds were exceedingly few : 

 there was a total absence of pottery, also of flint ; not even 

 chippings were found, nor any of the axes so common in the 

 Danish shell-mounds. I was shown an ancient glass bead, 

 and several quern-stones or hand-mills, found in the sand-hills ; 

 also two beautiful bronze pins or brooches, one of which was 

 found by the manager of the Rosapenna Hotel, the other by 

 Mr. Robert Bland : these may have been 10th century. A 

 small portion of a bone comb was given to me : it is similar to 

 combs found in Irish crannogs, and may not be older than 

 1 600-1 700, A.D. 



I observed a large quantity of pieces of furnace slag, show- 

 ing that at some period the smelting of iron-ore was carried on 

 here. I found some portions of a human skeleton, including 

 parts of the skull, and a good number of the teeth, some loose, 

 and some still in their sockets ; the teeth were perfectly sound, 

 but were worn down quite flat, evidence that much gritty 

 matter, either sea-sand or grit from the quern-stones, had 

 been mixed with the food used. 



From the number of bones of animals which must have been 

 domesticated, it would seem that these people were not of a 

 very primitive race ; on the other hand, the absence of pottery 

 would point to a very early period. Probably further investi- 

 gations may lead to discoveries which will settle whether the 

 people who formed the shell-mounds, belonged to the earlier 

 or later stone age, or perhaps to some other defined period. 



The illustration (Plate 3) which accompanies this paper 

 shows a portion of the Rosapenna sand-dunes near the new 

 hotel, where the wind is cutting into the ancient mound and 

 laying bare its contents ; it is from a photograph by Mr. R. 

 Welch, Belfast. 



A 2 



