117 



The absence of interlaced ornament and presence of Late C(dtic or 

 trumpet ornament would, taken alone, point to an early date ; but the 

 brooch (Plate VIIT., fig. 5) is not an early type. This form of 

 brooch, with large, flat, expanded ends of ring, resembles the silver 

 brooches found in Ireland, with interlaced ornament of a Scandinavian 

 flavour ; and the silvering of the surface was much in vogue in 

 what is called the Danish period. This silvering of bronze, giving 

 it a silver-plated look, is more common than would be supposed at 

 a cursory glance. Many of the buckles and ornaments in the large 

 find of Danish objects found at Kilmainham, near Dublin, are 

 silvered in this way. Silver goes black, and the coating, being very 

 thin, easily wears off ; but many plain bronze pins and brooches will be 

 found on close examination to bear traces of having been so treated. 

 It does not, therefore, seem possible to place the brooch and pins 

 before the tenth century. Mr. Knowles is inclined to regard some of 

 the objects as earlier, and as indicating a somewhat long occupation 

 of the site. But there did not seem to be any suflicient difference in 

 levels of the finds to separate them ; clear evidence was not therefore 

 to be obtained on this point. In any case, the occupation of the 

 crannog may be placed certainly as late as that century. 



Animal Kemains. — A large number of bones were found in the 

 mud of the kitchen-midden, and a few around the margin of the 

 crannog. They were of the usual species found in crannogs : Deer, 

 Horse, Ox, Sheep, Goat, and Pig. A selection of them has been given 

 to the Natural History Department of the Museum, and may prove of 

 some interest in working out the early fauna of Ireland — a subject 

 on which Dr. Scharff has been engaged for some time. The most 

 important find was, however, three very fine Horse skulls, two in 

 exceptionally good condition. Dr. Sclmrft' regards them as perhaps 

 the finest heads of ancient Horse preserved in any museum. The 

 Museum possessed only a few fragments hitherto; and these skulls 

 more than repay the work of the Academy in excavating this 

 crannog. 



Professor Ridgeway, in his recent work, " The Origin and Influence 

 of the Thoroughbred Horse," regards these skulls as of the highest 

 interest, as proving that Horses of the North African type were 

 used in Ireland as early as the tenth century. The importance of 

 these skulls, as well as the rarity of the remains of the ancient Irish 

 Horse in our collections, adds a special interest to the photographs 

 reproduced on Plate X. Dr. Scharff lias kindly supplied the 



R. I. A. PKOc, VOL. xxvr., si:cT. c] [12] 



