Dwellmg Places of Prehistoric Man i9 



flat unsooted dish, 7 inches in diameter, i^ inches deep ; as we 

 had both rim and bottom of this Mr. Cox has been able to restore 

 it. Mixed in the mass we also found numerous lumps of common 

 Co. Antrim Iron Ore, several crude ingots of cast iron, and 

 numerous lumps of what appeared to be iron corrosion. These 

 latter were in the shape of ordinary round soda bread scones, or 

 the shape that thick porridge would assume if emptied on the floor. 

 I had specimens of these analysed at the Technical School, the 

 result confirmed my belief that they were lumps of iron dross, 

 lying as they were emptied off the surface of the molten metal 

 in smelting crucibles, of which many fragments were lying 

 about. The analysis also showed that whereas the mass (>f 

 these lumps of dross was composed of iron oxide and burned 

 earth, there was also a considerable quantity of silica, 

 proving that lime had been used in the smelting process. 

 As you are doubtless aware lime is used tu-day in the smelting 

 process to remove the impurities of the ore from the pure metal, 

 yet, neither at Knock Dhu nor at Ballyrickardmore or Ballykennedy 

 did we find any pieces or chips of limestone. In all three cases 

 however the charcoal mass was thickly impregnated with burned 

 bone fragments. 7'he evident inference to be drawn from this 

 discovery is that the quality of lime in its natural state was not 

 known to the founders or smelters of this period, but that the 

 qualities of bones, composed as they are chiefly of lime were, and 

 that vast quantities of bones were used in smelting iron. I think 

 this discovery is of considerable importance, as it at once supplies 

 an explanation of the masses of burned bones mixed with charcoal 

 and iron fragments at Knock Dhu, Ballyrickardmore and many 

 other places, hitherto unaccounted for. In our further search at 

 Ballykennedy. we found also lumps of bronze slag. Of manufac- 

 tured iron instruments and tools a good number were forthcoming. 

 (Plate VII). Several of the iron implements I cannot explain the 

 use of, but there are two pins of familiar type, a knife of the usual 

 crannog type, two fragments of the handle of a sword, dagger, or 

 knife so exacdy similar to the dagger in the Lisniicroghera Crannog 

 find in the City Museum, that we are almost inclined to think 



