48 ti. C. Lawlor on 



vessels and bones lying in hearth sites ; but no implements or 

 ornaments rewarded our search here. 



To revert to our work on the higher of the two halves of the 

 double rath, when we had sunk the trench to a depth of about 

 three feet we came upon a stratum of black substance composed 

 entirely of burned wood and bones, bioken pots of various types, 

 lumpsof iron ore, etc. This discovery, so similar to that at Bally- 

 rickardmore near I.arne made us slightly change our plans. 

 Instead of confining ourselves to sinking a mere narrow trench to 

 find a possible souterrain, we decided to lay bare the wh(;le of this 

 charcoal stratum for careful examination, as it evidently contained 

 hidden evidence of prehistoric interest of an age prior to the 

 construction of the fort. 



So we proceeded to remove the whole floor of the enclosure 

 in sections of three feet wide, and about three feet deep, until we 

 had exposed the greater part of the black conglomeration, section 

 by section. It averaged about 12 to 18 inches deep, lying on the 

 level of the surrounding field. In all we removed and carefully 

 examined this stratum over a space of about 50 feet by 30, 

 averaging about 15 inches deep ; when I remind you that we had 

 to remove three feet cf soil before we could touch the black 

 stratum, you will realise that the work was one of considerable 

 magnitude. I estimate that we removed 4,500 cubic feet of soil 

 before exposing the black stratum, and of the latter we removed 

 and examined about 2,000 cubic feet. There were four of us 

 working steadily for four days. 



The blackish mass consisted almost entirely of charcoal and 

 burned bones of animals, grey ashes and pure soot. Great quan- 

 tities of pot fragments of a great many different pots were found all 

 through the mass, all exactly resembling those found in Knock Dhu 

 souterrain ; these included broken crucibles, cooking pots and do- 

 mestic vessels. Sufficient pieces of any one vessel could not be 

 found to piece together, but in one or two cases we got enough 

 pieces of several pots put together to enable us to judge the size and 

 shape. Two cooking pots of a diameter one of 12 inches, the other 

 of 7^ inches, but both of uncertain depth were found, another was a 



