100 



the doorway are stilted, after the Anglo-Saxon manner. For other 

 illustrations of this ancient church see previous volumes. 



101. Ancient font of yellow sandstone preserved in the Cathedral 

 of Killaloe. From the outline of this font, the Greek form of the 

 cross on it, and the style of the foliated ornament covering it, a por- 

 tion of which is in low relief, and the remainder " grave en creu," 

 I believe we may regard it as 1 0th century work, if not older. 



XXI. — Note on the Investigation of the Pre- Celtic Epoch in Ire- 

 land. By Hyde Clarke, Corresponding Member of the American 

 Oriental Society, Member of the German Oriental Society, Member 

 of the Philological Society of Constantinople, and late President of 

 the Academy of Anatolia, &c, 



[Read November 11, 1867.] 



In begging acceptance by the Royal Irish Academy of an abstract 

 of my paper on the Iberians in Asia Minor, published by the Ethnolo- 

 gical Society, I am desirous of enlisting the interest of the Academy in 

 the extension of this branch of study. "William Yon Humboldt proved 

 the existence in Spain of the Iberian race, which he identified with the 

 present Basques. I have pursued the like investigation for Asia Minor, 

 determining the existence there of Iberians, who preceded the Greeks, 

 and showing their identity with the Iberians of Spain. I am now 

 applying this conjoint evidence to the investigation of the Iberian 

 names in Italy and Greece, completing the chain of Iberian occupation 

 in southern Europe. 



There remains the question of Iberian extension in Europe beyond 

 the limits of Aquitania, and none can work this better than the mem- 

 bers of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The Iberians in Asia Minor. Italy, and Spain, presented examples 

 of communities in a high state of culture at an early epoch ; and the 

 question is, what influence they exercised beyond their present known 

 boundaries by colonization or by commerce ? So long as they were 

 undisturbed by the pressure of invading nations — first the Greeks, 

 afterwards the Latins and the Celts — a race which had spread itself 

 through the great southern peninsulas and the islands would con- 

 tinue to advance, particularly by sea. 



Thus they would be led to Britain and to Ireland. I adhere 

 to the belief that the Silures were the remnant of the dominant 

 Iberians in Britain. I expect that your researches will not only prove 

 an ancient Iberian colonization of Ireland, but the existence there 

 of descendants of such race in the present day. 



If this point can be determined, it will offer a key to many of the 

 difficulties of ancient Irish history ; it will exhibit an ancient and an- 

 terior civilization yielding to subsequent invasions as in other parts 

 of Europe ; it will show us the Iberians there, as elsewhere, seeking 



