Bigger — Prehistoric Settlements at Portnafeadog. 729' 



face. If they had been cooked in this manner the animal would 

 easily surrender itself to be eaten or used as bait. 



The Purpura lapillus affords the most interesting heap by far : — 

 all the shells are brohen, and broken with a method. Get a perfect 

 specimen, lay it mouth downwards, hold the apex with finger and 

 thumb, and with one of the " hammer- stones " give the shell a smart 

 tap, and you get a fracture like the old-time ones, and can easily 

 extract the animal. Purpura is extremely difficult to extract from 

 its shell. Even with the aid of boiling water and dexterous use 

 of a pin in the hands of an experienced conchologist, extraction 

 is not easy. Littorina is just as easy as Purpura is difficult to 

 extract, and it must be remembered that the living moUusk cannot 

 be drawn intact from a univalve shell like Purpura or Littorina. 

 Then as to why these three species were specially collected in such 

 quantities : were they for food or bait ? Patella and Littorina may 

 have been used for either, but Purpura seems too insignificant to be 

 so used ; anyone who took the trouble to break a sufficient number to 

 satisfy his hunger alone would liave an arduous task, and the animal 

 would make a poor bait. 



In the colouring of the cloaks of the ancient Irish they used 

 certain dyes ; it may be that the Purpuras were broken to obtain the 

 animal for the rich, fast purple dye it affords ! The colouring matter 

 of the Purpura is contained in a sac which lies in such a position 

 as to admit of its easy extraction if the shell is broken as in the 

 specimens found. 



Close by these heaps of cast-away shells were numerous layers of 

 ashes through which were quantities of burnt stones, such as had 

 evidently formed the basis for the fires or were banked around them, 

 including numerous small, round, burnt pebbles of granite and 

 quartzite. In one case a complete hearth was found in situ, and a 

 rubbing stone of granite. There were also some quartzite stones that 

 had been broken by fire ; in fact, there was evidence of fire every- 

 where around. These remains were in the blown sand above what 

 was the old land siurface. What was the fuel used it would be 

 difficult to say unless wood from the neighbouring mountain of 

 Errisbeg. The stone foundations of what may have been a circular 

 hut were traceable in one place, and near them was found the top of a 

 quern for grinding corn made of mica schist, and portion of another 

 top made of quartzite. Twelve rude hammering-stones were found, 

 in each case having the striking part well defined, and in some cases 

 fractured. Not one particle of fiint, nor anything in the nature of a 



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