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VI. 



ASSOCIATED FINDS OF IRISH NEOLITHIC CELTS. 

 By E. C. E. ARMSTRONG, M.R.I.A., F.S.A. 



Read NovEMiiiiit 30, 1917. Published February 21, 1918. 



No apology is needed for placing before the Academy the following short 

 account of some finds of Neolithic celts. Finds of associated implements 

 and weapons belonging to the Irish Bronze Age have often been published ; 

 but those of the Neolithic Period have met with less consideration. It is, 

 however, only by the publication and examination of associated finds that it 

 will become possible to arrange Neolithic antiquities in a progressive series. 

 The Neolithic finds of other countries have been described from time to 

 time. 1 An interesting recent contribution to the subject is that of Dr. Karl 

 Schumacher, 2 who has published an illustrated account of the finds of 

 associated implements of the Neolithic Period discovered in West Germany. 



The information about the finds included in the present paper has been 

 obtained partly by searching the Museum Registers and Wilde's Catalogue • 

 partly from information supplied by private collectors; and partly from 

 accounts that have appeared in archaeological publications. 



Some remarks of a speculative character are added to the latter portion 

 of the paper regarding the classification of the two principal forms of 

 Neolithic polished axes, i.e. the type in which the outline is triangular and 

 the butt pointed, and the type in which the outline assumes a more rect- 

 angular shape, while the butt is rounded or roughly squared. Should such a 

 classification be established by further researches, it will materially assist 

 the arrangement of antiquities of the later portion of the Stone Age. 



The Collection of the Royal Irish Academy, preserved in the National 

 Museum, Dublin, contains a large number of stone celts and chisels of various 

 types. Unfortunately, in the early days of the collection, the records as to 



1 See Dechelette, Manuel d'archeologie, i, p. 516, note ; Congrcs International 

 d'Anthropol. et Arclu'ol. Prchistoriqttes, Geneve, 1912, ii, pp. 4ii, 47 ; rmehistarische 

 Zeitschrift, ii, pp. 57-60 ; iii, p. 170 ; iv, pp. 231, 232 ; v, p. 262 ; and Mannus, v, 300. 



s Praehistorische Zeitschrift, vi, p. 29, sqq. 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL, XXXIV, SECT. C. [11] 



