MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 



81 



the Menhirs or Standing Stones, some of which appear to 

 be sepulchral monuments of Neolithic Age. In one case, 

 where two such stones may still 'be seen, at Ballakilpheric, 

 Rushen, two others are known to have been near them in 

 such a position as to suggest that they formed the remains 

 of a large circle. Worked flints and some rude pottery 

 have been found near by. At Port St. Mary, the " Griant's 

 Casting Stones," close to which worked flints have been 

 found, may perhaps have stood singly. At Glen Mooar, 

 Michael, near the Spooyt-vane, and just above the rail- 

 road, is an unhewn stone pillar or Menhir set upright on 

 a little craig facing the sea. At its foot are some cup- 

 hollows cut in the out-cropping rock, 

 and, a little below, on the face of the 

 crag, are larger shallow, basin-like 

 hollows (fig. 6). In some instances 

 such cup-marks appear to have been 

 intended to hold offerings to the dead.* 

 Loose objects belonging to the 

 Neolithic period have been found in all 

 parts of the Island, and frequently in or 

 near the monuments already described. Fig. 6.— Standing stone 



and cup-marked rock 



Implements of flint are in especial at Michael— from a 



! , i-T j u- sketch bv P.M.C.K. 



abundance ; besides cores and chips, 



we meeft with flakes, knives, and scrapers of three or four 

 different types, drills or awls, arrow-, javelin-, and spear- 

 heads, and celts or axe-heads. A characteristic of the 

 flints is their rudeness and simplicity of make, combined 



* The Times correspondent " With the Mission to Tibet," August 

 11th, 1904, describing the Ling-kor, or sacred way, with the 20,000 

 images of Buddha, refers to " probably the largest ' cup-mark ' in the 

 world. There is a smooth worn hole 3ft. or 4ft. deep and 5ft. in 

 length, into which the pious either throw or from which they take 

 away a pebble. The dust at the bottom is of great sanctity, and is 

 much used for charms, and even as an ingredient of the Tibetan 

 pharmacopoeia." — (Times, August 19th, 1904.) 



