436 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



resemblance to kitclien midden axes, but as no special dressing was 

 seen on any specimen collected, we cannot speak with any certainty 

 of their being the implements we suppose them to be. A large flake 

 of quartzite showing what is believed to be rude dressing on the lower 

 edge of the figare is seen in fig. 4. It would be as suitable for 

 removing connective tissue and otherwise preparing skins intended for 

 clothing, as the flint scrapers of our northern sites, or as the flint and 

 sandstone scrapers of the Eskimos which have been used for that 

 purpose in recent times. A long flake which shows a bevelled edge at 

 the part between a and h of the figure so as to fit it for scraping or 

 cutting is seen at fig. 5. Eack front and side views of an implement 

 made from a broad flake of blackish or metamorphic rock are shown in 

 figs. 6, 6a, and 63. There is the hollow on the back where a former 

 flake has been removed, and a well marked bulb of percussion on its 

 front face. The edge opposite the bulb appears to have been dressed 

 into its present curved shape. Parts of this edge could have been 

 used for scraping or cutting, but the thickest portion which appears at 

 lower end of the figure is bevelled to each side, leaving a bluntish 

 edge in the centre. The figure of a large stout flake of similar rock 

 to the specimen last described is given in No. 7. From the marks 

 visible on the lower edge, it has evidently been used as a chopper. 

 There were many other interesting specimens found, but it is hoped 

 that those figured will give a general idea of the objects which were 

 obtained during the investigations. Except in the smoothed end of 

 fig, 1, and the bevelled portion of the edge of fig. 6, which may have 

 been ground, though the bevelling may have arisen fi'om the way in 

 which the implement has been used, no object showed traces of grind- 

 ing or polishing. In this respect the sites of Connemara agree pretty 

 closely with the prehistoric sites of the J^orth, where polished imple- 

 ments, though occasionally found, are of rare occurrence. 



Eefore reading this report the Paper on " Prehistoric Settlements at 

 Portnafeadog," or Dog's Pay, by E. J. Bigger, should be studied, as 

 it was owing to Mr. Bigger's discovery of the site in July, 1895, that 

 it was considered necessary to have the further investigation on which 

 we are now reporting. The Committee found bones of cow, pig, 

 sheep or goat, horse and dog, but all these had been observed by 

 Mr. Bigger on his previous visit. The sliells which he found to 

 have been most abundantly used, and which your Committee, on exa- 

 mination, are able to confirm, were Patella vulgata, Littorina littorea, 

 Ostrea echdis, Mytilis edulis, and Baccinum imdattmi. Some of the 

 various kinds were in heaps, "proving that they had been gathered 



