2i6 1 Jic Irish Naturalist. September, 



V. — ARCHEOLOGY. 

 PRKHIvSTORIC ARCHEOLOGY. 



BY AI,E:X. d'EVEIvYN, m.d. 



The followiug rough uotes apply to the sandhills visited during the 

 Conference, and to the prehistoric objects collected about the various 

 hut sites on the Sligo coast. 



Rosses Point, 

 This place, though it looked promising, did not yield many traces of 

 ancient habitation ; some, however, were observed, and one chert scraper, 

 Plate 14, fig. 4, was picked up. 



RaGHIvY. 



On the wind-swept stony ground above the seashore, west of Ardtermou 

 Castle, were found the ordinary objects common to all prehistoric sitesi 



The shell mounds were composed mostl}^ of Ivimpet (^Patella vtilgatd) ; 

 but Oyster {Ostrea edulis), Cockle {Cardium edule)^ Whelk {Littorina litored). 

 Dog-whelk {Piupzira lapillus), Pecten viaxinms, and Mactra solida were 

 fairly abundant. The Dog-whelks in some mounds were split or broken 

 in a manner similar to those found at Dogs' Bay, Conuemara, and other 

 hut sites. Flint and chert flakes and cores were abundant over a con- 

 siderable area ; one well-formed chert flake is shown in Plate 15, fig. 4. 



Among the finds at this site were about twenty scrapers of flint, some 

 of which are shown in Plate 14, figs, i, 7, 9, 10, and 13 ; and Plate 15, figs. 

 I, 2, and 3. Plate 14, fig. 3 ; and Plate 15, fig. 7, are chert scrapers. Six 

 flint knives or parts of knives (Plate 14, figs. 5, ii, 12, and 14 ; and Plate 

 15, figs. 5 and 6), were obtained; also two arrow-heads (Plate 14, figs. 2 

 and 8), and a small flint borer, known as a pigmy (Plate 14, fig. 6). 

 Several disc-stones of quartzite* (Plate 16, figs, i and 2), a broken anvil- 

 stone, and hammers of fine sandstone were observed. No axes were 

 found, nor was an}- pottery observed. The only bones at this site were 

 mostly leeth of the commoner domestic animals, as, owing to the weather- 

 ing and long exposure, the softer bones had practically disappeared. 



An interesting point about this site was the quantity of flint, foreign 

 to the district, and the paucity of worked chert implements in a country 

 where Carboniferous limestone and chert is everywhere abundant. 



Carrowmore and Strandhii,!,. 

 xA.long the shore for about a mile at Culleenamore, are very extensive 

 low cliffs composed almost entirely of Oyster shells, with a few Whelks 

 and broken pebbles. These deposits vary from one to ten feet in thick- 

 ness, and occur just above high water mark. They are probably the 

 remains of an ancient raised beach. I believe that when dredging the 

 channel of the Sligo estuary similar layers of oyster shells were 

 discovered.^ 



^ vSligo is named from the river s Sli^each, shelly river, (sligy a shell). 



