1888 .] 253 [Mooney. 
wanting that some of the blocks are, perhaps, more profusely ornamented 
at the back which is coverd by the earth, than on the side exposed to 
view.’’* In each of the three recesses is an oval stone basin about three 
feet long. This, Wilde considers ‘“‘a rude primitive sarcophagus,’’ and 
sums up his impressions as to the general purpose of the tumulus as 
follows: ‘‘ We believe, with most modern investigators into such subjects, 
that it was a tomb or great sepulchral pyramid, similar in every respect to 
those now standing by the banks of the Nile.’’+ 
The large adjacent mound of Dowth is similar to that of New Grange 
in structure and general arrangement of the interior, excepting that there 
is no central chamber, the offsets running out directly from the main pas- 
sage. Some of the stones ar carvd with wheels and concentric circles 
resembling those sometimes found on Scandinavian dolmens. There ar 
also leaf carvings so perfect as almost to be taken at first sight for fossils. 
Within the inner passage is a stone basin similar to those at New Grange, 
but much larger. It was found in fragments, the pieces having been 
scatterd through the passages, probably by the Danes, who plunderd the 
mound in 862. Mixt with the accumulated rubbish within the passages 
there hav been found at different times heaps and scatterd fragments of 
burnd bones, many of which wer human, together with numerous un- 
burnd bones of birds, deer and domestic animals. With these wer also 
found ‘glass and amber beads of unique shapes, portions of jet bracelets, 
a curious stone button or fibula, bone bodkins, copper pins and iron knives 
and rings.’’t{ A stone urn has also been found within the passage and 
another in a kistvaen in the mound. 
It is probable that both these mounds wer originally designd to hold 
the incinerated remains of some of the royal line of the Tuatha-de 
Dananns, whose ashes may hav rested within the stone basins already 
mentiond, or perhaps wer placed in urns upon them. 
The most common form in connection with cremation is the urn burial, 
concerning which Wilde says that ‘‘the cinerary urn containing the re- 
mains of burned human bones has been found not only as a separate and 
distinct form of burial, but also in connection with the cairn, the crom- 
lech, and the kistvaen or small stone chamber. Moreover, we have in- 
stances of bones being found partially or completely burned in some of 
the larger sepulchres, without any trace of the urn whatsoever.”’$ In 
1842, while working a quarry near Drogheda, a farmer came upon 
from one hundred to two hundred urns of unbaked clay, of various 
sizes, nearly all placed in an inverted position and each containing incine- 
rated human bones. They wer placed a few feet apart, without any 
apparent regularity and without any flag or stones to protect them, so that 
* Notes on some Cornish and Irish Prehistoric Monuments, Jour. Anth. Inst.. ix, 1652, 
London, 1880. 
+W. R. Wilde, The Boyne and the Blackwater, 2d ed., 201, Dublin, 1850. 
¢ Idem, 209, 
2 Idem, 232. 
