474 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The smaller end formed part of the base on which the flag which 

 supported the nm rested ; I infer from this that at the time the urn 

 was deposited there was at least 6 feet deep of earth in this end of 

 the cave. From the hearth to the spot where the urn was found 

 there is a vertical space measuring 5 feet, and fi'om the urn to the 

 surface 3 feet, making a total of 8 feet of cave earth, includ- 

 ing the small stones on its surface, all of which it is quite evident 

 accumulated very slowly. A long interval of time must have elapsed 

 since the early clwellers occupied the hearth till the time the urn was 

 placed in the upper layer of cave earth. 



Dr. Joyce says (" Irish Names of Places") : "In early ages it was 

 usual to bum the body and place the ashes in an urn, which was 

 deposited in the grave. It seems very extraordinary [he continues] 

 that all memory of this custom should be lost to both history and 

 tradition, for I am not aware that there is any mention of the burning 

 of bodies in any, even the oldest, of our native writings." 



According to Dr. Joyce, the people who practised this custom in this 

 country must have been very ancient ; but according to the chi-onology 

 of the cave, they are comparatively modern. In ancient Greece and 

 Eome, burning the dead gained ascendancy over other modes of burial 

 as civilization advanced ; and, sti'ange to say, as Europe is attaining 



a higher level of culture and civilization, this sentiment is evolved, 



and appliances invented to carry out this advanced {.') mode of burial. 



The large urn (fig. 7) was rudely but very strongly formed, and com- 



