Plunkett — Cist and Urns found at Tallaght. 347 



Period. It was in a vessel similar to fig. 10 that a large portion of 

 the Dowris find of bronze spearheads, &c., was contained.^ 



The general form of the urn, figure 3, may also be compared with 

 that of the conical bronze vessel, figure 11 ; the rounded shoulder 

 and narrow lip are common points of style. The recessed bottom of 

 the small earthen vessel (Plate XII.), which was found under the large 

 urn in the cist, is also important ; it is undoubtedly a late feature. 



The extensive use of the lattice pattern Mr. Coffey considers 

 worthy of notice. It occurs on other examples of Irish sepulchral 

 pottery, but is not very common. The 

 subject of the ornament of our sepul- 

 cliral pottery has not been yet worked 

 out ; but taken with the general absence 

 of impressed ornament, with the ex- 

 ception of some instances on the food 

 vessel (Plate XII.), which appear to 

 recall some early features, it may per- 

 haps be regarded as a lute feature. 



Plate XV. is an illustration of a 

 small cinerary urn in the possession of 

 Captain Walker, of Tykillen, county 

 Wexford. It was found some years 

 ago in a sandpit near his place. Its 

 dimensions are : height, 5 inches ; 

 diameter of mouth, 5 inches ; diameter of base, 3f inches. The form 

 is very unusual. The ornament, both as to the manner of execution, 

 by scoring or inscribing, and the use of the lattice pattern, presents 

 points of relation to the Greenhills vessels. The form is of particular 

 interest ; it is undoubtedly late, and much resembles that of a cinerary 

 urn of the Iron Period (apparently copied from a bronze vessel) found 

 near Kelouer, Plouhtinec, Finistere.^ The concave curve of the bot- 

 tom of the Wexford urn is also, in Mr. Coffey's opinion, a late feature. 



Thus along a different line of evidence we are again led to fix 

 approximately the period of the Greenhills vessels at the end of the 

 Bronze Age, or the beginning of the early Iron Period. 



Fig 



^ There are three vessels of this form in the Academy's collection. Fig. 10 is 

 17| inches in diameter at the mouth, and 16 inches deep. A fine bronze spear- 

 head, leaf-shaped, with rivet holes, was found in one of the others. 



^ La Poterie aux l5poc[ues Prehistoriq[ue et Gauloise en Amorique, Paul du 

 Chatellier, PI. 14, fig. 3. 



2 C Z 



