1904. 



Review. 



61 



The presence of rude celts of a particular type is in this respect most 

 instructive, and is carefully discussed. " The Larne celts would thus 

 seem to be the roughed-out stage or blanks for this class of implement \i.c.y 

 • the rough chisel type, narrow, with somewhat straight sides,' that is more 

 abundant than any other type in Ireland]. Many of them would require 

 little more than the striking off of two facets from one of the ends, one 

 from each face, to convert them into serviceable chisels of the kitchen- 

 midden class, the intersection of the facets producing the cutting edge, 

 while the grinding down of one of the ends would produce an edge of 



the second [more advanced] class The process of roughing- 



out the blanks was evidently rapid, and pieces which developed defects 

 in the working, a lump on one of the faces, or an irregular section 

 would be thrown aside." Excellent figures of a large number of chips, 

 cores and celts in various conditions of development are given to illustrate 

 this part of the paper. 



The archaeological evidence is then brought to a point upon the 

 question as to the age of the Larne beach. " If then, the Lame celts are 

 to be regarded as the roughed out pieces, or blanks, from which the 

 celts of the kitchen-midden types and the narrow forms with ground 

 edges only were formed, the laying down of the Larne gravels cannot, 

 so far as this evidence can be relied on, be brought down to a later period 

 than the earlier stages of Neolithic times." It may here be parenthetically 

 remarked that the carrying back of the Neolithic period to this com- 

 paratively early stage of Post-Glacial times lends support to the widely- 

 held view that the earlier Palaeolithic period may correspond to the time 

 of the great glaciation of Ireland. 



The age of the raised beach is then considered from another point of 

 view. In several places along the northern coast of Ireland, Neolithic 

 occupation-sites have been discovered among the sand-dunes that fringe 

 some of the bays. The relics from these sites indicate a more advanced 

 stage of culture than that of the Larne implements, and appear to range 

 Irom Neolithic times, through the Bronze Age, and into the Iron and 

 Christian periods. But occasionally, in the pebbly beach underlying 

 the newer accumulation of the sand-hills, flint flakes of the Larne type 

 have been found, and though the evidence presented under this head is 

 not very convincing, it supports the previous conclusion as to the 

 antiquity of the beach-deposits. Exception may here be taken on a 

 minor point, where, on p. 197, the supposed presence of blown sand 

 slightly below the existing high -water mark is adduced as additional 

 evidence for the final slight subsidence that is held to be the latest move- 

 ment of the land traceable in the district. Dunes of blown sand may, 

 and indeed frequently do, establish themselves on surfaces below the 

 level of high tides. 



After thus recounting their evidence respectively, the authors combine 

 in unison in certain conclusions, with the question of the Limavadygold 

 ornaments as a pivot to the argument. These results, so far as Ireland is 

 concerned, are as follows : — " The Larne beach deposits show that Neolithic 

 man was in existence from almost the commencement of the deposition 



