170 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



" Godfrey, grandson of Imliar,* with tlie foreigners of Atli-cliatli,t demolislied 

 and plundered Dearc-Feama, where one thousand persons were killed in this year, 

 as is stated in the following quatrain : — 



' Nine hundred years without sorrow, twenty-eight, it has heen proved, 

 Since Chi-ist came to our relief, to the plundering of Dearc-Feama.' " 



O'Donovan, in a note, says that the above "^as "probably the 

 ancient name of the Cave of Dimmore." In the whole passage there 

 is no reference to smoking out, or " smothering," which Dr Foot 

 surmised may have been the means employed in reducing the garrison. 

 The Cave was certainly not " demolished," and there could have been 

 but Kttle to plunder it of. Moreover, at the best of times the Cave 

 could hardly accommodate a thousand persons, and the passage appears 

 to me to apply only to the territoiy, where there may have been a 

 large village. At any rate, it is but slender e'V'idence on which to refer 

 the bones to the Danish period ; and there are certain circumstances 

 that seem to render it most probable that these bones, even if not 

 dating fi'om one of the Stone Ages, are of much greater antiquity than 

 the period of the Danish invasion. These I shall presently refer to. 



At Dr. Foot's locality the bones occur at the base of a steep 

 declivity, formed of a quantity of silt, sand, and clay, which rises at 

 a sharp angle towards the roof, which it meets. This stuff, which is 

 covered with stalagmite from one to four inches thick, is well stratified, 

 and was imdoubtedly brought in by water, thi'ough a fissure at the 

 north end, now filled up. The following is the section, so far as it 

 could be observed : — 



1. Layer of stalagmite, . . 



2. Fine sand stratified, with rib of infant, 



3. Layer of stalagmite, which finally unites with (1) 



4. Sand, 



5. Dark carbonaceous and peaty-looking matter, 



6. Sand, 



7. Fine clay, stratified, . . 



8. Coarse, loose, brown well-stratified sand, with fragments 



of decayed bone, . . . . . . . . . . ..26 



4 11 



The main deposit of bones occurs at the base of the incline, marked 

 («) in plan and section, but from the manner in which it has been dis- 

 turbed, we could not determine their exact position. From the method 



* Annals of the Four Masters, 0' Donovan; 1st Division, vol. i., p. 623. 



t Dublin. 



+ See Sketch Section, Plate 18, fig. 3. Throughout the Cave the fioor is 

 covered with lai'ge blocks of Kmestone, fallen from the roof, and now coated thickly 

 ■with stalagmite. 



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