94 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Belgium the celts, which are often long and pointed, were generally hafted 

 directly into a wooden handle through an oval hole. That this was also the 

 case in Ireland is indicated by the small stone celt with a pointed butt 

 inserted directly into a wooden haft, which was found at Maguire's Bridge, 

 Co. Fermanagh, and is now preserved in the Academy's collection in the 

 National Museum, Dublin. A wooden handle for a celt, found at Coal bog, 

 Boho, Co. Fermanagh, also in the same collection, has an oval hole in the head 

 of the haft for the insertion of the celt. 



Sir John Evans' arranged polished celts in four classes, i.e. : — 



( 1 ) Those sharp or but slightly rounded at the sides, and presenting a 



pointed oval or vesica piscis in section. 



(2) Those with flat sides. 



(3) Those with an oval section. 



(4) Those presenting abnormal peculiarities. 



These divisions were adopted in order t" describe celts more con- 

 veniently; h was le: b bed that they denoted any difference in the date 

 of the implements. 



Without going into a more minute classification, il is sufficient for the 

 present to deal with two broad types of [rish Neolithic celts, i.e., those 

 which are more or less triangular in outline and have a pointed butt ; and 

 those in which the outline assumes a rectangular form, and the butt is 

 either considerably rounded or roughly squared. 



Something, no doubt, would depend upon the form from which the 

 polished Neolithic celt was derived ; its origin has often been sought in the 

 Danish kitchen-midden axe, and the Lite Mr. < [eorge Coffey wrote that "The 

 kitchen-midden axe, or chisel, is typologically tin beginning of the celt 

 series."' The kitchen-midden axe i- ■> wedge-shaped implement, the cutting 

 ge of which is formed by stiikin;.' ofi a Bingle large Bake on each side. But 

 Mi. l; A. Smith has recently published a paper on TJu Origin of the Neolithic 

 1 in which be traces the evolution of one form oi cell luck through a 

 large aeries to the " point" of Le Moustier. The "point" of Le Moustier is 

 roughly triangular in outline; so if Mr. Smith's contention is correct, its 

 shape may have exercised some influence on that of the Continental, and 

 English, Neolithic celt with a pointed butt, which in turn may have influenced 

 tie' [rish examples. 



■- 

 Royal frith '■ txv, Sec. <'. p. 187. 



Archaeologia, Ixvii, pp. 27 18 



