The Rath of Dveen 13 



stone axes could not l)elong to the late iron age settlement ; but 

 facts are before us. In this connection I may recall that in two 

 of our excavations recorded in detail in the Reports of this 

 Society for the years 1916 and 1917, stone axes were found in 

 immediate association with late iron age remains. I refer to one 

 found in the souterrain at Donegore, and two, of which one was 

 quite perfect and the other a fragment, found in the Ballykennedy 

 Iron Foundry remains. They are illustrated and described in the 

 Report for 1916. Of the three found together at the Rath of 

 Dreen, a detailed description may be of interest. 



No. 1 is a stone axe of the small thick oval section type. 

 When left by the hut dwellers where we subsequently found it, 

 it had ceased to be of use for its original purpose ; the cutting 

 edge is completely worn or chipped away, but the top end bears 

 unmistakable evidence of its having descended to the purpose of 

 an ordinary hammer. The difference of the appearance of the 

 chipped surface of the cutting end and the top is very marked, 

 and may represent a difference in age of an indefinite period. 

 This axe, though in use by the hut dwellers as a hammer, may 

 have been, as an axe, hundreds of years old at the time. 



Not so, I think, Nos. 2 and 3. They are both of the thin 

 flattish type which some theorists regard as the predecessors of 

 copper and bronze axes of similar shape and the models on 

 which they were designed ; they believe therefore that they are 

 what they call late stone or early Bronze Age, say 1800 to 1000 

 B.C. No. 2 has a few small chips oft' the cutting edge. No. 3 is 

 absolutely perfect and presumably unused, as was the verysimillar 

 axe found at Ballykennedy. It is probable therefore that No. 2 

 is the axe which was in actual use when hut dwellers left the 

 hut, and No. 3 a spaic tool in reserve. 



In a recent very interesting paper by Mr. E. C. R. Armstrong, 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, dealing with 

 " Associated finds of stone celts in Ireland " he deals with a 

 great number of Stone Celts found at various times and places in 

 groups of two or more, now in the Academy's Museum. It is 



