Knowles — On Prehistoric Remains. 663 



ancient shell heaps as they would do of earthen forts or other pagan 

 remains. 



BIq-wh sand has shown itself "an excellent preserver of prehistoric 

 remains, hut this is best exemplified in places where the sand is not 

 over abundant, and in parts not too much exposed to strong winds. In 

 some exposed places the old surface has been broken up and obliterated, 

 and in such cases it is only in parts some distance inland that any 

 remains are found. I have observed some portions of old surface, after 

 having been denuded of the sandy covering, becoming covered with a 

 sward of grass, and beginning to acquire another sandy covering, which 

 leads me to believe that there may be cases of an old surface having 

 had its covering blown away and another formed several times since 

 the sandhills were occupied by a prehistoric people. 



If our earliest Neolithic inhabitants came here on foot with the other 

 fauna of the country, as I believe was the case, many of the earliest 

 remains near the coast will have been destroyed by denudation, but 

 those now remaining will show the old culture of our earliest 

 Ifeolithic people. I believe they first occupied the coast, and spread 

 inland along the various rivers. In parts along the shores of the 

 Bann, we find some implements, particularly the kitchen -midden type 

 of axe, similar to those found in the sandhills, which favours the 

 opinion I have expressed. I do not believe that these earliest people 

 of whom I am writing knew much, if anything, of agriculture. They 

 appear rather to have been hunters, living on the ox, pig, sheep, or 

 goat and red deer. We also find remains of horse and dog or wolf, 

 but whether any of these were domesticated or were hunted, and used 

 for food like the other animals, I am not certain. Among the birds 

 we find remains of goose, gull, duck, and the great auk. From the 

 number of bones of the latter bird which has been found it must have 

 been a common inhabitant of the North of Ireland at the time the 

 people of the Stone Age occupied Whitepark Bay and other parts of 

 the coast. 



