Coffey — Ornamented Bronze Spear-Heads. 447 



niid-rib, and in some cases ornamental ribs of cable pattern run down tbe 

 centre of the mid-rib and are continued on the socket, being carried round the 

 rivet-holes. The outline of the blade assumes an ogee curve in. sonie which I 

 estimate as late ; they probably represent the latest evolution of the type, 

 and much art has been expended in their decoration. In others the 

 ornamentation, though plainer, is somewhat similar, as there is in most cases a 

 raised rib on ea«h side of the centre rib, which is carried down on each side 

 and continued as a flat projection containing the rivet-holes. The outer side 

 of the lunate opening is also ornamented with a raised edge. There is one 

 large example in the Academy's collection placed in this class which has the 

 base of the socket ornamented with rings and reeding (Plate XLVII, fig. .5). 

 When complete this spear must have measured 1.3 or 14 inches in length, and 

 must have been a very fine specimen. The ornamentation of these spear-heads 

 with the lunate openings presents many analogies with the spear-head found 

 at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh, which 1 recently described, and placed at the end 

 of the period of the looped spear-heads, about 1200-800 B.C.' This conclusion 

 was principally based on the excellence of the casting and its provenance 

 with contemporary leaf-shaped swords. One of these spear-heads with lunate 

 openings in the blade was found in the Dowris hoard.' Supposing this to 

 have been contemporary with the other objects of the find, such as the 

 trumpets and caldrons, it would bring the date down to well within the 

 limits above mentioned, and these spear-heads must have lasted down to the 

 latest period of the Bronze Age, though they may have been in use very 

 much earlier. 



I give illustrations of all the spear-heads of this type at present in the 

 Academy's Collection, and append the localities where they were found. 



DESCEIPTION OF PLATES. 

 Plate XLVI. 



Fig. 



1. Found in a small rath in the townland of Corerum, near Loughgilly, Co. 



Mayo. St. Columba's College Collection. ^1906 : 46.) 



2. Locality not stated. (W. 88.) 



3. Electrotype ; original in possession of T. B. Costello, m.d., probably found 



in the neighbourhood of Tuam, Co. Galway. (1908 : 6.) 



4. Locality not stated. (W. 112.) 



1 Proc. R. I. A., vol. XXX, sec. C, p. 92. 

 - British Museum Bronze Age Guide, p. 28. 



