440 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



dressed round the edge, and suitable for scraping or cutting is stoM'u 

 in fig. 1. A knife-like flake, with short handle and Tvell dressed 

 along one side is shown in fig. 2, and fig. 3 shows one of several 

 arrowheads made of fine-grained black rock. Pigs. 4, 4a, 5, and 5« 

 are scrapers, as well made as similar objects in flint, and fig. 6, 6fl is 

 a side scraper as well dressed as the rather coarse nature of the rock 

 would allow. Such implements as those ought to be found in the 

 south and west of Ireland made of native rock, chert, quartzite, car- 

 boniferous slate, and other crystalline rocks. The harder rocks, other 

 than flint or chert, cannot be so neatly worked, and when exposed to 

 the air and moisture easily lose all traces of intentional dressing which 

 they had received, and it is not then easy to identify implements when 

 found in that condition ; but they should be searched for, and in no 

 places are they more likely to be found in an uninjured state than in 

 sites in sandhills, such as are the subject of the present report. We 

 are to bear in mind, however, that many of the implements used by 

 these rude people must have been in the condition of mere flakes, 

 without any dressing. 



The exploration of all such sites as are preserved to us in sandhills 

 is of prime importance, in order that we may have as true an insight 

 as possible into the habits and mode of life of our earliest inhabitants. 

 All animal remains should be collected, as by this means we may get 

 a better knowledge of our earliest j!^eolithic fauna. In connection 

 with this it may be mentioned that at "Whitepark Bay, among ancient 

 hut sites, like those described, 25 bones of the Great Auk have been 

 found, representing 12 to 20 individuals, and at Waterford, in what 

 seems to have been similar sites, Mr. R. J. Ussher found 17 bones, 

 representing 6 to 8 individuals. It is to be hoped that the knowledge 

 already made known regarding the prehistoric sites preserved amongst 

 our sandhills may stimulate workers to make systematic search among 

 sites not yet explored. 



XOTE ADDED TS THE PkESS, 



In regard to the human remains reported to have been found at 

 Mannin Bay, such were observed in abundance, in one site, not 

 far above tidal mark, but they were of quite recent interment, some 

 being enclosed in rude cofiins. Almost complete skeletons were 

 found wholly or partly on the surface. The local inhabitants took 

 no interest in these remains, so we may conclude some shipwrecked 

 strangers were here deposited. 



