ON THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAVES OF THE SOUTH OF IRELAND. 211 



employed on the spot say that triangular chipped flints have frequently 

 been met with there. The surface-earth around the quarry contains 

 many bones of ox, goat, and pig, showing that the spot had been the site 

 of some human habitation for a considerable lapse of time. 



Further explorations in this cavern have been postponed, but will be 

 resumed presently. 



Extract from a Report by Kobeet Dat, Esq., F.8.A., on the Implements 

 found at Oarrigagower, Co. GorJc. 



The iron objects are peculiarly interesting, as examples of very early 

 domestic articles— comprising a chisel and two knives. The larger of 

 these has a portion of the Avooden haft still adhering to it, and the turn- 

 up on the handle part, designed for securing it effectually, occurs on a 

 larger knife in my collection which was found at Larne, Co. Antrim. 

 These objects lack the peculiar blue or cobalt patina that is so frequently 

 found on iron tools from Irish craunogs. The oblong stone with polished 

 sides is a burnisher or whetstone, upon which probably the knives were 

 once sharpened. The broken stone may either have been a hone stone or 

 a chisel-shaped celt. If it was found in the same deposit as the iron 

 objects, I should say it was another polisher, as it is not probable that a 

 chisel of the advanced iron type would be found in conjunction with one 

 of stone. Two of the natural pebbles are hammer-stones, and the third, 

 with its ground and partly jjolished face, is one of a type commonly met 

 with in the North of Ireland. In this the central depression is barely 

 defined, but in others it is much more fully developed, so that I have long 

 come to the conclusion that, while serving some purpose (perhaps for 

 grinding the broken points of arrowheads), they were made to pay a 

 double debt, and served as amulets ! I noticed upon the broken bit of 

 pottery what looks very like a worn-out inscription in Roman capital 

 letters. This is best seen with a pocket lens. The bit of jet (?) may be 

 jet or coal ; I am not competent to give an opinion. The fragments of 

 flint are all artificial. Among them is the base (showing the bulb of per- 

 cussion) of a worked flake. These flint-flakes were used down into the 

 iron age, and we have here another proof of the fact. The bone scoop 

 sent by Mr. Smyth is, from the character of the texture or structure of 

 the bone, altered by exposure and time, as it is unquestionably older than 

 the apple-scoops which schoolboys made in the present century, 

 and which it closely resembles. I have another like it, from 

 the Lough Revel Crannog, Co. Antrim, with cobalt patina. 

 This from Rathcoursey (Carrigagower) is ornamented, and the 

 flint arrowhead found there is small, beautifully chipped, and of 

 the scarce and deeply indented type. 



The iron nail is very curious, with a head like a horse nail. 



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