1865.] Kett on Prehistoric Records. 251 



in troublous times of the isles in tlie Adriatic, by the Veneti. The 

 defence was perfect against the style of the warfare of many succeed- 

 ing ages, and the security of Venice did much to establish the inde- 

 pendence and commerce of Northern Italy in the Middle Ages. We 

 owe, then, to the inventors of the Crannoge, a debt of gratitude for 

 much they could scarcely have anticipated. 



Of the character of house or hut erected on these platforms it is 

 not possible for us to say much. In the year 1833, Captain Mudge 

 discovered in Drumkellin Bog, in Donegal, a log hut, which, from 

 various causes, may be assigned to the Stone Age, though the latter 

 period of it. This cabin was built of oak planking ; it was twelve 

 feet square and nine feet high, and though so low, it was divided into 

 two stories of four feet each. The planks were formed by splitting 

 trees, and one tree in most cases would make only two planks. The 

 framework of the building was mortised together, and the roof was 

 flat. A stone celt was found inside, which exactly corresponded to 

 some of the cuts on the beams. Near this hut, which seems to have 

 formed one of a palisaded village, were discovered a leathern sandal, 

 a flint arrow-head, and a wooden sword, all of the same apparent age. 

 From this we may conjecture that the earlier inhabitants of the 

 Crannoges had dwellings which served for little better than sleeping 

 berths. These are the principal styles of dwelling inhabited at this 

 early period, and certainly the complaint cannot be made that we have 

 servilely copied their architecture. An imitation of a Weem, a 

 Pilework, or a Crannoge woidd assuredly appear like a novelty at the 

 present time. 



The weapons and implements of the Stone Age reveal to us 

 the condition and civilization of the people of that time. Celts (Latin 

 celtis, a hatchet) were made at first by chipping stone so as to form 

 a rude blade, somewhat of the shape of a woodman's axe. As men 

 improved upon their manufacture, or, according to some authorities, 

 in the second period of the Stone Age, the stone was ground down so as 

 to form a smoother edge, and for this purpose a harder and less brittle 

 stone could be used.* How handles were fixed to these awkward im- 

 plements may be conjectured from the Plate which accompanies this 

 paper, and which shows how such tools are used by South Sea Islanders, 

 and exhibits such handles as have been found.j That they were used fox- 

 chopping wood we have evidence in the marks on the wood correspond- 

 ing to the celt found beside it, and we may guess that such handy imple- 

 ments could not but be made available in war and in the chase. The 

 stone (No. 6 in Plate) was found beside an elephant's bones, which 

 was probably killed by it, beneath Gray's Inn Lane. In order to divide 



* Messrs. Jahn and Uhlman state that at Moosseedorf they found Flint and 

 Rockcrystal used in the earliest period, whereas afterwards serpentine, gabbro, 

 jasper, agate, and opal occur. 



f The celts probably were more easily injured in the using than the handles, 

 whilst the latter were made of materials sooner destroyed by time. The plate con- 

 tains very nearly all the handles that have been discovered in Europe, except the one 

 in the British Museum, though the number of celts is almost innumerable. 



VOL. II. T 



