622 
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
time miglit be detained days, and perhaps weeks, before a safe passage 
could be e:ffected. It is possible tbe articles may have been lost or 
dropped at different levels during the time the thirty feet of sandy 
covering was accumulating, and that all came to one level when the sand 
was blown away. 
The difference in position between objects of neolithic and later 
ages is well shown in Professor Boyd Dawkins' work, " Cave Hunting." 
In a section given at page 87 of that work we see, in descending order, 
a layer consisting of two feet of talus, then a Eomano- Celtic or Brit.- 
Welsh stratum, containing safety-pin brooches, spindle whorls, glass 
beads, brooches with enamel, buckles, bronze pin — in fact, a series not 
unlike those figured on Plate xxiv,, from Mr. Olphert's collection. 
Then there comes six feet of talus separating the Brit. -Welsh stratum 
from one containing neolithic implements. The objects of different 
ages are found in their respective positions, owing to the cohesive- 
ness of the formation; but if the whole mass was of sand and 
exposed to the weather, the objects of Brit. -Welsh and neolithic ages 
would soon be mingling together, and we would find a variety of 
opinions among explorers regarding the age of the mixed objects 
similar to that which we see respecting the finds from our own sandhills. 
If we could find some of those later objects at a higher level in the 
sandhills than the neolithic layer it would be more convincing, but it 
would be impossible to remove the thousands of tons of sand that cover 
the black layer in many places in the hope of finding a bronze pin or 
glass bead in situ. Metallic objects have never been found in the ol^ 
surface, or in any way associated with the stone implements, except 
where they are brought into contact by means of denudation; but 
independent of this, the bronze and other objects of late date which 
are found on some of the sandhills are not a representative series of any 
period, but in the matter of age differ widely among themselves. 
Conclusion". 
The remains from the old surface layer are of purely neolithic 
character, and correspond to similar objects of that age in other parts 
of the British Isles and Europe. The number of flint implements 
which have been found in the various sandhills is large, and if flakes 
had been taken into account the total would have been enormous. 
Hitherto flakes have not been collected or enumerated; but from the 
diggings which I recently made at Whitepark Bay I found there were 
about 12 flakes to one dressed object, which I consider is much under 
