Prehistoric Dwelling Places 99 



also found to a certain extent in the sandhill settlements, and is 

 represented here by some fragments from Whitepark Bay. As 

 the potter's art progressed we find that although the same coarse 

 body was used, the potter made a fine paste for the surface 

 which he ground between stone rubbers, of which the late Dr. 

 Buick found some with the fine paste actually attached. This 

 the potter applied with a metal smoothing tool. Then later he 

 began to ornament his pots with the herring bone and other 

 patterns scored in the smooth surface paste. Specimens of these 

 are exhibited, and as I find in many cases the smooth external 

 paste is inclined to split off from the inner, it appears as if double 

 firing had been introduced. 



Later came to be used the potter's wheel with fine ground 

 paste. I am able to show specimens from Dnndrum and 

 Donaghadee sandhills of pottery made of fine paste on the 

 potter's wheel, some plain and some highly ornamented. 



The date of the introduction of the potter's wheel into 

 Ireland is quite unknown. In my last year's paper I described 

 our investigation of the Ballykennedy Iron Foundry of about the 

 8th century. Among the vast number of pot fragments found 

 there, not one displayed the use of the wheel, yet from the 

 finding of the tiny grindstone, we can infer that the tradesmen 

 of the period understood second motion drive by a band from a 

 large pulley on to a small one, of which the potter's wheel is a 

 development. 



In the sandhill settlements we occasionally find glazed 

 pottery of mediaeval times. Two of the Souterrain pots on 

 exhibition are remarkable as showing holes pierced in the sides. 

 Fragments showing these piercings have also been found in the 

 sandhills, and as they were usually just under the rim, it has been 

 considered that they were intended for suspending the vessel by 

 cords. One of the vessels exhibited, however, is sufficiently 

 complete to show that there are no holes on the opposite side, 

 so that the two on one side could not have been used for 

 suspension by cords. Another vessel shows the two holes, one 



