Wilson — Scandinavian Origin of Hornless Cattle of British Isles. 159 



Wilde was able to " fix the range of date of that [Dunshaughlin] craunoge 

 and its osseous contents, viz., from a.ik 848 to a.d. 933,"' their arrival in 

 Ireland may be fixed approximately at the uintli century. The Danes 

 made their first appearance in Ireland at Lambay Island, about fifteen 

 miles north-east from Dublin and twenty miles east from Dunshaughlin, 

 in the year 795.- The Battle of Clontarf was fought in 1014. 



We have next to sliow that cattle like those round the British coasts 

 have been found in otlier countries wliere tlie Norsemen settled. We are 

 handicapped by an imperfect knowledge of the cattle of tliose otiier 

 countries; but, nevertheless, the likeness of a few cau be sliown. Perliaps 

 the most interesting case is the discovery of skulls like those found at 

 Dunshauglilin in some eartheu mounds [terpen] in Friesland and Grouingen 

 in Nortli Holland. The likeness between tlie Dutch and Irish skulls will 

 be seen by a glance at the accompanying illustrations. 



Irish hornless skull. Dutch hornless skull. 



In dealing with the Dutch skulls in an article in CuUura for 1908, 

 the magazine of the old students of Wageningen in Holland, Professor 

 Broekema points out that some Scandinavian bracelets and cloak-pins were 

 found in the same mounds. The first of a number of attacks on the 

 Frisian coast was made by the Norsemen in 799.' 



Professor Broekema, who also points out that hornless cattle occur very 

 rarely in Holland at the present day, inclines to the view that they belong to the 

 hornless race of " Scandinavia and the adjacent parts of Northern Europe." 



' Roy. Irish Acad. Proc, vol. vii., 1862, p. 68. 



' Keary's " Vikings in Western Christendom,'' 1891, p. 486, 



