BRITISH POSTGLACIAL 6- RECENT DEPOSITS. 463 



albanagh, County Antrim) an ancient roadway, constructed of 

 oak, occurred at a depth of 15 or 20 feet, and rested upon 4 feet 

 of black turf, at the base of which, stumps and logs of oak 

 appeared. The oak-timber of the roadway was probably pro- 

 cured, as Mr. Kinahan suggests, from the neighbouring upland. 

 On the same level as the road, stools and logs of deal make their 

 appearance ; and since holes in the wooden pavement have been 

 mended with deal slabs placed across them, it may be inferred 

 that the path continued in use up to the time when the deal 

 forest had begun to flourish over the dried peat-bog. "The 

 road seems to have been abandoned and the deal forest destroyed 

 at the same time, which appears due to flooding, as the peat 

 above both is ' flow-bog ' (Ulster), that is, peat full of sedge and 

 flaggers, which only grow or accumulate in marshes or flooded 

 bogs." Another example of the same kind of ancient roadway, 

 formed of oak-timber, is that met with in a bog near Castle 

 Connell, County Limerick. Near the path there was found a 

 keg, full of a substance like whey, standing beside an oak- 

 stump. Above this level came 5 feet of peat, to which suc- 

 ceeded a buried forest of deals, covered in its turn by more than 

 12 feet of bog. Another very interesting series of antiquities 

 are the famous " crannoges " or lake-dwellings of Ireland, some 

 of which date back probably to Neolithic times, while others 

 were occupied down to a recent historic period. And the same 

 appears to be true of the kitchen -middens, which occur at 

 various places upon the coasts. Both the Neolithic and the 

 Bronze Ages are represented by great numbers of implements, 

 arms, and ornaments, which are met with generally over the 

 whole island — sometimes in peat, sometimes in alluvial deposits, 

 and at other times lying loose at the surface. 



The animals which occupied Ireland in Postglacial and 

 more Kecent times include red-deer, reindeer, great Irish deer, 

 long-faced ox (Bos longifrons), goat, sheep, wolf, fox, dog, bear 

 ( Ursits spelceus or U. ferox), etc. Of these the most characteristic, 

 by reason of its great abundance, is the Irish deer, remains of 

 which are very common in the marl and clay under the bogs. 



