728 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



along the ridges the -winds and the waves have broken into the 

 hearths and refuse heaps, covering about three or four acres of what 

 must have been a very considerable settlement (see Plate XXY.). Just 

 as one emerges into Gorteen Bay, on a slightly raised bank of sand, 

 is a small graveyard still in use. Certainly no more lonely site 

 could be chosen for anyone to enjoy their last sleep. All around 

 are the sandhills where the plovers' whistle and the sea-gulls' scream 

 alone are heard, whilst close beneath the Atlantic waves splash along 

 the strand. I can find out nothing as to the age of this place, no 

 vestige of a building remains, and the spot is quite unenclosed. 

 Many large natural imported stones mark the graves amongst the 

 more modern erections which make one wonder if this spot was 

 not a former Pagan burial-ground whose use has been continued 

 without any formal Christian adoption. 



The most curious feature about the settlement is the evident 

 exclusiveness of the food used by these primitive people. An almost 

 continuous Lent they seemed to have enjoyed, judging by the 

 great quantities of shells which abounded close to the hearths of 

 what were theii' homes, if not permanently, then for a season, the 

 latter being the most likely. True, we found a few bones of 

 mammals — such as horse, sheep, cow, pig, and dog — all broken, and 

 some teeth, and we also found on the surface an old caudal vertebra 

 of a whale which may have been modem, but fish bones of all 

 sorts were met with. Shells, however, abounded on every side, im- 

 pressing one in a most remarkable manner by their quantities and 

 the way in which one kind is found in one place ; in fact, the finding 

 of these old kitchen heaps composed entirely of shells is quite a 

 record, as W. J. Knowles informs me that he never found shells even 

 plentiful, and never found any broken as described in such places. 

 In one heap there was nothing but limpets {Patella vulyata) (see 

 Plate XXY.) ; in another periwinkle {Littorina littorea) alone were 

 found (see Plate XXYI.) ; whilst in a third the dog whelk {Purpura 

 lapillus) held sway (see Plate XXYII.). Several, however, contained 

 samples of all these together with the common whelk {Buccinum 

 undatum), the oyster ( Ostrea edulis), and the mussel {Mytilus edulis). 

 It certainly was a distinctive feature in the case of the three fixst 

 heaps that only one species of shell was found, thus proving that 

 the different shell-fish had been gathered separately and so used, 

 having been brought from the outlying rocks and neighbouring 

 islands. In the case of the Littorinas, many of them have a 

 "crackled" appearance, as if they had been laid upon a hot sur- 



