igo The Irish Nahoalisi. November, 



At many points along our shores are to be found con- 

 siderable collections of marine shells at varying heights 

 above the sea. These formations sometimes extend for 

 hundreds of yards along the coast and were long supposed 

 to be " raised beaches." On closer examination however, 

 the following variations from normal raised beaches were 

 established. Gravel and sand were usually absent, the 

 formation consisting almost entirely of shells. The number 

 of species present were also very restricted compared with 

 the number found in a normal raised beach. The shells 

 were always those of full-grown individuals, and in all 

 cases the species of marine mollusca used by man for food 

 were most abundantly represented. These species are the 

 Oyster, the Mussel, the Cockle, the Limpet and the Peri- 

 winkle. A series of investigations carried out on the shell- 

 heaps of Denmark by Steenstrup revealed the presence of 

 flint implements, fire-places with charcoal, and other 

 evidence proving that these so-called " raised beaches " 

 were the sites of settlements of prehistoric man. 



During the earlier portion of the nineteenth century it was 

 the fashion to style practically any naturally-formed bed of 

 rolled pebbles a " sea beach," and when it contained sea 

 shells to call it " portion of the ocean bed." These " sea 

 beaches " existed from sea-level to the i,ooo foot contour- 

 line, and were found by their supporters in the most un- 

 likely spots ; in fact no place, no matter how remote from 

 the sea, need be without its " raised beach." With the pro- 

 gressive study of glacial geology and prehistoric archaeology 

 most of these "sea beaches " were relegated to their proper 

 positions, especially on the eastern coast of Ireland. In the 

 west of Ireland the distances to be traversed barred research 

 and the west remained, until very recent years, a land where 

 supposed enormous fluctuations of the relative levels of sea 

 and land had taken place. Kerry, Clare, Galway, and Mayo 

 were counties from which Griffith, and in later years 

 Kinahan, brought back stories of considerable accumulations 

 of marine shells at hundreds of feet above sea-level. Very 

 recently Professor A. F. Dixon and Dr. Gordon, in a paper 

 read before the Royal Dublin Society, reported the existence 

 of large deposits of marine shells in Curraun Achill, at 



