Dwellmg Places of Prehistoric Man 51 



thai the Lisnacroghera dagger was manufactured at Ballykennedy 

 Iron works. Of all the iron castings found I think the most 

 extraordinary is the casting of a bird standing erect, with its back 

 against a tree stump, shown in the illustration. I may say that this 

 and all the other iron implements were very much corroded when 

 found ; I fear I was over anxious to remove the rust, and in my 

 efforts to effect this, most of the right wing of the bird crumbled 

 to dust. The metal of all the things found is exceedingly brittle 

 through corrosion, so much so, that they have to be even lifted 

 with care less they crumble in the fingers. The exposure to air 

 has rendered them much more brittle even tiian when first found. 

 Among the other implements found were the fragments of a quern, 

 several stone hammers, a small but perfect, though unpolished 

 stone axe, with an unusual blunt edge, several tracked stones, some 

 stone discs, so frequently found in crannogs, polishing stones, and 

 last but far from least a circular grindstone 35 inches in diameter 

 with square hole in the centre, exactly the same as used to-day by 

 a cutler. (Plate VIII). Its very smallness proves that it would be 

 useless as a grindstone to be turned direct by the hand. This small 

 find therefore goes to prove that the iron workers of Ballykennedy 

 were familar with the mechanism of second motion, and that the 

 grindstone was driven by a belt off a larger wheel, if not actually 

 in a lathe. We also found a piece of fossil wood similar to that 

 described by the late Dr. Buick as found in the Moylarg Crannog. 

 Of articles of personal adornment, besides the iron pins, we found 

 touching each other a glass bead of the hour glass or dumbbell 

 type, and a split flint of ornamental style, such as might be set in a 

 brooch. From careful comparison of these articles with others 

 found in Crannogs, such as the larger knife blade and the dumbbell 

 bead, and careful study of the conclusions arrived at by Dr. Munroe, 

 Dr. Buick, The Rev. Leonard Haase, and others, I think we may 

 safely date these articles about the seventh or eighth century. 

 The fort being built on the ruins of the foundry, must be later, I 

 think Danish of the ninth century, for reasons I shall shortly 

 refer to. 



It is of interest to note that the quern is of Tardree Granite, 



