[ '^1^ ] 



IV. 



SOME IXVESTIGATIOXS OX THE SOUTEERAIX. 



r.v H. C. LAWLOl!. 



(Plate VI.) 



Rwid May U, 1917. Published Makch 27, I9I0. 



DuuiNG the snmmei-s of the three years, 1914-191(3, under the auspices of 

 tUe Belfa.st Xatunil History and Philosophical Society, I had tlie privilege of 

 making some extensive investigations in a considerable number of souterrains 

 in the counties of Antrim and Down. Minute descriptive accounts, with 

 plans of each cave, and uf the articles found therein, are given in full in the 

 reports of that Society for the yeai-s 1916 and 1917.' The illustrations 

 accompanying the present abstract are reproduced (by kind permission) from 

 llieso reports. The numerou.s articles found during the e.xcuvations became, 

 according to arrangement, the property of the Society's museum. 



As many of the objects in this collection seemed to be of unusual interest, 

 and as a special collection of soutermin remains doe.s not seem hitherto to 

 have been made, the Belfast Society, on my suggestion, ollered the collection 

 on loan to the IJuyal Irish Academy, for temporary inclusion in their collec- 

 tion in tlie National Museum, which oiler the Council of the Academy 

 accepted; the collection is at present displayed in the museum. 



It is no i^irt of this abstract to repeat the already published details of the 

 investigations, except such as l^ear on the loan collection and the very instruc- 

 tive deductions one may draw from examination of it. Of the vast quantity 

 of domestic pottery found in the various .souterrains, probably 95 per cent, is 

 all of one distinct unvarying type ; no objects of this type bear any ornameu- 

 t^ition further than i^erhaps a few thumb-nail dents on the rim or strengthen- 

 ing band ; tliey are all purely hand made by crude and primitive potters who 

 had no knowledge of the potter's wheel, and no knowledge of finishing with a 

 smoothing surface paste ; they present no variety ; the type clearly represents 

 the i>ottory in use at the time the caves were made, and wiicn that mode of 

 dwelling came into fashion ; this has, I think, been clearly shown to be the 

 period from the sixth to the eighth century. The distinct uniformity and 

 absence of progressive variety of type in soutcrrain pottery in themselves 



' It<.'|><.irt;i iind l*r.>iccdiii.;» uf the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical isociety, 

 I'Jl". i.|>. 31 «1 ; ,^nd mis. pp. 77-103. 



