LAKE-DWELLINGS.
ORIGIN OF LAKE-DWELLINGS--FIRST DISCOVERIES IN IRELAND--DESCRIPTIONS
OF CRANNOGS--LAGORE--DRUMKELLIN HUT--LOUGH GUR--CRANNOG
‘FINDS’--BALLINAMORE AND BALLYCONNELL--STROKESTOWN--SWISS
LAKE-DWELLINGS--SCOTCH CRANNOGS--DISCOVERIES IN ENGLAND--
MOYLARG--LAKE STONE-DWELLINGS--ARCHÆOLOGICAL PERIOD OF
CRANNOGS--CRANNOG POTTERY--CANOES.
The systematic exploration of lacustrine habitations in the latter
half of the nineteenth century has achieved remarkable success; and
the results are among the most satisfactory in the whole field of
archæological investigation. Water--usually a destructive element--has,
in the case of lake-dwellings, so far preserved these remains of early
races that we are enabled to learn much of their habits and modes of
life, of which we could otherwise glean but little knowledge. Man has
at all times familiarised himself with water; and he readily adapts
himself to the conditions of dwelling near or upon it, whenever he
adopts it as a surrounding for his home. Primitive man saw easily that
islands afforded a safe retreat in the great struggle for existence
between him and his natural foes--man and beast. In selecting water,
where islands did not exist he created them for himself, and brought
considerable mechanical skill and ingenuity, and immense labour, to
bear upon their construction. To hollow out a log-canoe, and to make an
artificial island with trunks of trees, branches, stones, and earth,
were but stages, though greatly advanced ones, in the development of
human intelligence from its low condition in the cave-dwellers and
men of the river-drift. It is evident, however, that these artificial
islands had been long used in Europe before they had been adopted in
Ireland as dwelling-places.
Many a desolate moorland district, and many a shallow waste of water,
throughout Ireland, now showing no other signs of animal life than the
wild fowl which frequent them, were at one time the sites of human
habitation, industry, and even art of no mean character. A slight
elevation on the surface of a bog, some bleached sprays of birch, ash,
or sallow, or the appearance of a few grey or white reed-surrounded
stones, rising a few inches above the surface of a lough, will often,
to the practised eye, indicate the position of a _Crannog_, by which
name lake-dwellings in Ireland are usually designated. It is, however,
to turf-cutting operations, or to drainage, that the discovery of the
great majority of these interesting sites must be attributed. The term
‘Crannog’ is derived from _crann_, a tree; but whether it was given
originally to the wood used in constructing the island, or to the huts,
cannot now be determined.
[Illustration: Lake-dwellings in Lough Eyes, Co. Fermanagh.]
‘To understand,’ says Sir William Wilde, ‘or appreciate the nature of
these dwellings, we must bring back our minds to the period when the
country around the localities where they occur was covered with wood,
chiefly oak and alder, and when the state of society had passed from
that of the simple shepherd or pastoral condition, to one of rapine,
plunder, and invasion. Certain communities, families, or chieftains
required greater security for themselves, their cattle, or their
valuables than the land could afford, and so betook themselves to the
water. With infinite labour, considering the means and appliances at
their disposal, these people cut down young oak-trees, which they
carried to the lakes and drove into the clay or mud around the shallows
of these islands, which were usually, I believe, covered with water
in winter; and having thus formed a stockade which rose above the
water into a breastwork, probably interlaced with saplings, they
floored with alder, sallow, or birch, to a suitable height above the
winter flood, the space so enclosed, and on this platform erected
wooden cabins. One large flag, at least, was also carried in for a
hearthstone, or common cooking-place; and one or more querns, or
hand-mills, have almost invariably been found in the remains of these
crannogs.’
As far back as 1810 a lake-dwelling was discovered at Roscrea, but
no special attention was given to it, as its precise nature was not
understood. In 1839 the curiosity of Wilde and Petrie was aroused by
the very frequent visits of a dealer bringing quantities of antiquarian
objects for sale to the Royal Irish Academy. These, he said, had been
found in the bog of Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath. A visit
was paid to the spot, and a large collection of weapons, articles
of personal and domestic use, objects of bone and wood were seen.
This collection was unfortunately soon scattered, though some of it
was secured for the Academy Museum. The Lagore lake-dwelling stood
at a slight elevation above the surrounding bog, and consisted of a
circular mound 520 feet in circumference. The waters of the lake in
which it stood had been drained many years before, and during some
subsequent operations on the stream, a quantity of bones were found;
numbers of bone-gatherers came and carted off 150 loads, which were
sent to Scotland for the manufacture of manure. The island was formed
by ‘upright posts of black oak, measuring from 6 to 8 feet in height;
these were mortised into beams of a similar material laid flat upon
the marl and sand beneath the bog, and nearly 16 feet below the
present surface. The upright posts were held together by connecting
cross-beams, and (said to be) fastened by large iron nails; parts of
a second upper tier of posts were likewise found resting on the lower
ones.’
The plan of the huts--there were probably six or eight originally--is
described from the personal observation of Mr. Wakeman, made in the
summer of 1848, at which time a portion of the ‘island’ was re-opened
for the purpose of turf-cutting. Here a foundation, consisting of
four rough planks of oak, each about 12 feet in length, was arranged
so as to form a quadrangle. The ends were carefully fitted together,
and secured by strong iron nails, with flat heads about the size of a
shilling. From the angles of this square rose four posts to the height
of about 9 feet. In these grooves were cut, into which roughly-split
planks of oak had been slipped, so as to form the sides of the
dwelling. There seems to have been no provision for the admission of
air or light, except a small opening in one of the sides, which must
have served as a doorway. The roofs, like the sides, were formed of
oak boards, quite flat, and were probably covered originally with sods
or other vegetable matter. The enclosing circles of piles ‘or hedges,’
as they were sometimes styled, at Lagore, had been all but obliterated
before any archæologist had visited the place. Nevertheless, down to
the period of the first visit some traces remained. These consisted of
half-burnt beams, intermixed with large quantities of wood-charcoal. We
gather from history that Lagore once stood as one of the safest and,
as there is reason to believe, richest of the lacustrine habitations
of Ireland. It belonged, in fact, to the O’Melaghlins, a regal family
in Meath, and was probably their principal stronghold. Upon this place
the Danes of Dublin had long set their eyes, but had never been able
to place their feet; until mustering an army, and carrying with them
from Dublin Bay one of their war-vessels, they were able, by aid of the
latter, to take and sack the crannog. This was in the ninth century.
Other remains of log-walled huts have been found in Irish
lake-dwellings, particularly in Ulster. The most interesting example
yet known--one indeed that is unique among those hitherto discovered
in the lake-dwellings of Europe--is that described by Captain Mudge in
1853. It lay 16 feet beneath the surface of a bog at Drumkellin, near
Inver, County Donegal; and, not allowing for the lake depth, at least
26 feet of bog must have grown on the site since its erection. Within
the hut was found a stone hatchet, the cutting edge of which is said
to have exactly fitted certain indentations which were observable in
several of its timbers, all of which were of oak. Dr. Keller found
that the piles used in the construction of the dwelling at Ober Meilen
had been cut with stone implements; and experiments made on green
timber with the stone axes found on the site clearly demonstrated the
fact.[109] The Drumkellin hut was perfectly square in plan, 12 feet
each side, and 9 feet high. ‘The framework was composed of upright
posts and horizontal sleepers mortised at the angles, the end of each
upright post being inserted into the lower sleeper of the frame, and
fastened by a large block of wood or fore-lock.[110] The interstices
were filled with a composition of what appeared to be grease and fine
sea-sand. The interior was divided by a flooring into an upper and a
lower chamber, which were probably only used as sleeping-apartments.
Portions were found of the gates of the staked enclosure within which
it stood, resting on a floor of hazel branches covered with fine sand.
There is a model of this hut in the Royal Irish Academy collection.
At Kilnamaddo, County Fermanagh, and other places, remains of log-huts
have been found. The huts at Kilnamaddo were of a very primitive kind,
and lay buried under 17 feet of peat; they were but 4 feet in height
and constructed of oak beams. Some of these showed long clean cuts; and
others, 7 feet in circumference, had mortise-holes pierced through,
which could only have been done with metallic instruments. The remains
at Dunshaughlin--or, more correctly, Lagore--crannog, though probably
of later date than the Drumkellin hut, were very similar to it in
character; they, however, presented no upper chamber.[111]
Soon after the discovery at Lagore, another lake-dwelling was
discovered in lowering the waters of Roughan Lake, near Dungannon.
Here were found many fragments of pottery and bones, some bronze
spear-heads, and a fine sandstone quern, having an old Irish cross
carved in high relief. To this ‘fortified island’ Sir Phelim O’Neill
retired after the surrender of Charlemont, and held out until boats
arrived, when he was captured in 1653. About the time of these
discoveries, another ‘island’ was laid bare in Lough Gur by similar
draining operations; and a large number of objects of antiquarian
interest, and quantities of bones, were discovered. This is considered
to be one of the earliest lake-dwellings in Ireland; and the district,
as we have already intimated, is exceptionally interesting from an
archæological point of view. There appears to have been no staking or
surrounding timber enclosure in connection with this crannog. Other
discoveries quickly followed; three stockaded lake-dwellings were found
in Monaghan (1843–4). One in Ballinderry Lake, near Moate, yielded
a large quantity of antiquities and bones, and two canoes. In the
drainage of Lough Faughan, County Down, another ‘dug-out’ canoe was
found. During the work of the Commission for the Arterial Drainage and
Inland Navigation of Ireland, twenty-two crannogs were discovered in
the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell districts. The report of the officers
of the Board of Works may be thus briefly stated: The crannogs were
generally circular, and from 60 to 80 feet in diameter; some were
larger, of an oval shape. The stakes were mostly of young oak trees,
from 4 to 9 inches broad, usually sunk in a single row; some, however,
were double, and in a few cases treble. The portions remaining in the
ground usually showed hatched marks. Within the enclosure, the surface
was sometimes covered over with a platform of round logs, from 4 to 6
feet in length, on which was a layer of mixed stones, clay, or gravel.
This construction was in some cases confined to a portion of the
island. ‘Besides these, pieces of oak framing, with mortises and cheeks
cut in them, have been found within the circle of the outer work.’ In
almost every instance a hearth made of flat stones was found near the
centre of the crannog; and in some instances two or three such hearths
existed. One or more querns were usually discovered; and upon the
enclosure or around it were found large quantities of bones, usually
those of cattle, deer, and swine.
Some of the lake-dwellings were of considerable dimensions, and
contained the remains of several huts. Others were of very small
proportions, and capable of holding but one poor dwelling. All,
however, were strongly stockaded, and were fairly secure retreats
for their occupiers, who, no doubt, would have managed that no boat
or currach, except those which they had with them upon the island,
remained in the neighbourhood. The remains of causeways connecting the
islands with the shore and with each other have, in many cases, been
found. These were built in the same manner as the lake-dwelling--on
piles, with branches, earth, and stone thrown between. In some
instances, the approaches may have been submerged, as, from the winding
direction they took, they could only be used by those well acquainted
with them.[112]
[Illustration: Bone Pins, &c., from Lake-dwellings in Counties Sligo,
Leitrim, and Roscommon (scale, about one-third).]
The larger crannogs, like those of Ballinderry, Lagore, and Lough Gur,
were of the character of fortresses, differing in little, except in
position, from the dun or cahir on land. Their ‘kitchen-middens,’ when
examined, brought forth exactly the same class of remains--stone,
flint, bronze, iron, bone, wood, and glass. A peculiarity of the
‘finds,’ in connection with the greater islands, was the enormous
quantity of animal remains, often amounting to hundreds of tons, with
which the stockades were found surrounded. These usually consisted
of the bones of the _bos longifrons_ and _bos frontosis_, of the
_cervus elaphus_, or red deer, wild boars, horses, asses, sheep, foxes,
wolf-dogs, and occasionally of human beings. Intermixed with the
osseous _débris_ of crannogs, very frequently occur numerous articles
of early manufacture--pottery, swords, spear-heads, battle-axes,
knives, chains and fetters, spears, reaping-hooks, saws, gouges,
brooches, whorls, small frying-pans and pots, horse-furniture,
crucibles, beads--of jet, of glass, and of amber; combs, tweezers, pins
and needles.
[Illustration: Glass Beads, from Lake-dwellings.]
[Illustration: Comb, from Lagore Lake-dwelling.]
[Illustration: Comb, from Ballinderry Lake-dwelling.]
Few ornaments or other articles formed of gold or silver have been
found in Irish crannogs. There is also an absence of coins, except
those of very late date, the celebrated ‘brass money,’ from the mints
of James the Second, being the most common. Such coins had probably
belonged to outlaws or rapparees, who, after the downfall of the Stuart
cause, were compelled to live in places difficult of access, and had
sought the ancient crannogs as exceptionally safe retreats.
[Illustration: Comb (restored), from Ardakillin Lake-dwelling.]
[Illustration: Section of Ardakillin Lake-dwelling, Co. Roscommon.]
By drainage operations, crannogs were laid bare in the Lakes
Ardakillin, Cloonfinlough, and Clonfree, near Strokestown, in 1852.
These proved exceptionally rich in ‘finds,’ consisting of implements
and personal and domestic articles of bones, bronze, and iron. The
surface of Cloonfinlough seemed to have been twice laid. Here a skull
was found; and among the bronze articles was a lamp of Roman type.
One of the four crannogs in Ardakillin yielded 50 tons of bones. The
section of another is here given. ‘Under a slight earthy deposit,
there was a deep layer of loose stones, bounded by an enclosing wall,
the foundation supported by piling. The lower portion of the island
consisted of clay, peat, and stones, mingled with strata of ashes,
bones, and logs of timber. The various rows of oak-piling are shown in
the section; the sheet-piling, driven in obliquely, formed an unbroken
circle round the island.’[113] The ‘finds’ were numerous and varied,
including bone pins and combs, articles of bronze, beads of stone,
glass, and amber. Near the crannog was found a canoe 40 feet long, made
from a single oak trunk; in it were discovered a skull, spear-head,
and bronze pin. The skull showed that it had received twenty cuts with
a sharp weapon, and though no one cut necessarily proved fatal, death
no doubt ensued from the accumulated injuries. Up to the year 1857,
forty-seven lacustrine dwellings had been discovered; and since then
the work of investigation of these sites has been steadily carried
on; and the number now known is over 230. Of these, Ulster has about
one-half, and Connaught one-third. The Lisnacroghera crannog, near
Broughshane, County Antrim, was discovered in 1882; but its features
had been destroyed before a proper examination could be made of the
site. Most of the ‘finds’ fell into the hands of the late Canon
Grainger; many of them were of exceptional value, and will be treated
of in another chapter.
But the impetus given to this branch of archæological exploration
throughout Europe was more directly due to the discovery of dwellings
similar in character in the lakes of Switzerland. In 1829, piles were
discovered at Ober Meilen, on Lake Zurich; but it was not until the
very dry and cold winter of 1853–4, that the inhabitants, in raising
silt from the shallows of the lake to reclaim the higher portions of
the shore, laid bare the piles of ancient lacustrine dwellings, and
discovered a large quantity of stone and flint weapons, utensils,
broken pottery, dug-out canoes, bones of wild animals, one human
skull, and portions of several skeletons. On a careful examination,
Dr. Keller was of opinion that the piles formed the foundation of a
platform raised above the surface of the water upon which the huts
were built, and that the place had been destroyed by fire after it
had existed for a long period as the site of human habitation. Many
similar discoveries in other lakes rapidly followed; and over 200 of
these sites are now known in Switzerland. Their area of distribution
has been found to extend throughout France, Germany, Austria, South
Europe, and Asia Minor. The plan of the pile-buildings (_Pfhalbauten_),
it will be seen, differed from the fascine method of construction
generally practised in the erection of the British lake-dwellings. In
Ireland, however, clusters of crannogs sometimes occur--as in Lough
Eyes, County Fermanagh--and were, as is evident from existing remains,
connected together by submerged causeways, or by approaches raised high
and dry on piles. ‘A third method,’ says Dr. Munro, ‘was to construct,
in close proximity to each other, a series of rectangular basements
of wood, each basement having its sides formed by horizontal beams
lying one above the other, and overlapping at the four corners, like
the logs in a Swiss châlet. These compartments measured only a few
yards in diameter. Their lowest beams rested on the bed of the lake;
and when the requisite height above the water was attained, the usual
platform was laid across, and the cellular spaces underneath became
covered over.... This plan appears to have been adopted chiefly by
the founders of the sporadic dwellings of the Iron Age.’[114] The
population inhabiting the Swiss lake-villages must have been at one
time very great. The settlements were on an extensive scale; and it has
been estimated that from 40,000 to 50,000 piles were used in a station
of the Stone Age period at Wangen, in Lake Constance, while some still
larger required little short of 100,000. These lacustrine settlements
were especially exposed to the danger of fire; but, as Dr. Munro points
out, this ‘was the most fortunate event from an archæological point of
view that could have happened.’ In the hurry of escape, little would be
carried away; and perishable articles slightly charred were better able
to resist the destructive agency of water.
In Scotland the first important discovery of lake-dwellings was made
in 1863 in draining operations at Loch Dowalton, Wigtownshire, by
Sir Herbert Maxwell. The remains contained Roman articles, which
showed that the crannog was occupied during the period of the Roman
occupation of Britain. With these exceptions, the remains were
precisely similar to those found in Irish crannogs. Fifteen years
later, the Lochlee crannog was explored, which was the beginning of a
series of excavations in the counties of Ayr and Wigtown. Among later
discoveries, the Lochan Dughaill lake-dwelling in Argyllshire disclosed
the remains of a circular hut, in the centre of which was the stump
of an upright post, with which the radiating planks were connected.
The ends of these had square-cut holes in which the ring of uprights
were fixed; but how these were connected with the central support for
roofing was not apparent. Here fragments of glazed wheel-made pottery
were found. Near Lanark, the Hyndford crannog, discovered in 1898,
yielded a polished celt, and other stone objects; portions of querns;
pieces of six different vessels of red ‘Samian’ ware, and others of the
grey Roman pottery; an axe, and other objects of iron.
In England the remains of lake-dwellings are few. In 1868 General
Pitt-Rivers described the discovery of piles in beds of peat, 7 to
9 feet deep, near London wall and in Southwark. The kitchen-middens
yielded articles, chiefly Roman; but there were other objects of bone
of a ruder type. Lake-dwelling remains were found in the Holderness, in
1880, during draining operations. The most important discovery of the
kind yet made in England was that of the Glastonbury lake-dwellings,
by Mr. Arthur Bulleid, in 1892. Here some seventy mounds lay close
together in low ground, which was once apparently under water. The
‘finds’ consisted of a large and varied assortment of stone, bone,
bronze, iron, amber, pottery, glass, etc. There was an absence of
any Roman influence in the Glastonbury settlement; while many of the
objects were of the Late Celtic period. ‘This feature alone,’ says
Dr. Munro, ‘gives to the Glastonbury lake-village an exceptional
importance among the lacustrine researches hitherto prosecuted within
the British Isles.’
Of the exploration of Irish crannogs in recent years, that of
Moylarg, County Antrim, was carefully carried out under the personal
supervision of the Rev. Dr. Buick. The clearing laid bare a quantity
of well-constructed woodwork, showing a system of log-supports to the
piles, radiating beams, and uprights mortised into the base beams. ‘The
layers of branches, rushes, and bracken were tightly packed together;
stones large and small laid in between; and the whole well pinned down
by stakes of hazel about the thickness of a man’s leg. These stakes had
been pointed with a sharp metallic axe, three cuts as a rule sufficing
to complete the operation.’ The ‘finds’ consisted of over 250 pieces
of flint, mostly chips, an arrow-head, stone celt, a number of tracked
stones, whetstones, and quern remains; bones of the ox, goat, pig--all
broken for marrow--and red deer antlers; of bronze, a strainer of
fine type with iron handle, an ingot and its mould, and a few other
articles; four glass beads; fragments of leather: of pottery, a huge
number of pieces; of iron, an axe of gallowglas type, portion of a
mediæval lock, a chisel-like implement, nails, knife, half shears, and
spear-butt; a lead pendant of Late Celtic pattern, and portion of a
cross of ninth or tenth century type.[115] Similar operations have been
carried out recently by Dr. S. A. D’Arcy in several crannogs in the
neighbourhood of Clones. The ‘finds’ were numerous, and generally of
the various classes already described.[116]
An interesting discovery of a ‘submarine’ crannog was made by Mr. R. J.
Ussher, in 1879, at Ardmore. The action of the sea had washed away the
shingle, and exposed a double row of pile remains enclosing an oval
space measuring 100 feet in diameter. The stratum of turf was 9 feet
thick. The encroachment of the sea is due to the subsidence of the land
on the southern shores of Ireland well within the periods of human
occupation.[117]
Examples of what have been designated ‘Lake Stone-dwellings’ or ‘Stone
Crannogs,’ are to be found in the lake-riddled district of Connemara,
to which attention was called by Mr. G. H. Kinahan in 1872. These
islands have been wholly or in part formed of stones, and enclosed by
a wall similar to the cashel of the land fortification. That of Hag’s
Castle, in Lough Mask, with a thick encircling wall, is the largest
of the kind. Others exist in a lake on Goromna Island, in Lough Bola,
near Carna, and Lough Cam, near Roundstone Bay, and in Ballinafad
Lough, near Ballinahinch.[118] Mr. Layard has described those in Lough
Skannive, near Carna; but no exploration of their contents has yet been
attempted in any of these islands.[119]
It is not to be supposed that all lake-dwellings are of great
antiquity; some are no doubt of much earlier date than others, but the
question of their precise age is especially complicated from the fact
that, at whatever period they were constructed, many were occupied
through a long period of historic time. Crannogs are frequently
mentioned in the Irish ‘Annals,’ and they enter into the composition
of several place-names. Many of them suffered from the attacks of
the Norsemen, as records tell us. We have clear historic evidence of
the occupation of some of the lake-dwellings throughout the Middle
Ages, and through the Elizabethan wars down to the middle of the
seventeenth century.[120] In many, as we have seen, flint cores, with
flakes, scrapers, knives, and arrow-heads, have been found. With them
sometimes occurred stone celts, exactly similar to examples found
in primitive cists, with burial urns and evidences of cremation. No
doubt crannogs yielding flint and worked stone should be regarded
as the oldest; yet from the fact that spear-heads, celts, and other
articles of bronze, and even of iron, are at times found plentifully
amongst their piling, or in the surrounding bog stuff, we must conclude
that these islets had been used by a people well skilled in the art
of metallurgy. It is necessary, too, to point out that year by year
additional evidence is produced to show that in Ireland at least the
apparently contemporaneous use of flint, stone, bone, bronze, and
iron in the preparation of weapons, implements, and ornaments for the
person, had existed throughout a long period of time. In addition to
the mixed ‘finds’ already mentioned, there were found, in a Monaghan
lake-dwelling described by Mr. Shirley, stone celts, a worked flint,
apparently intended for an arrow-head, three looped bronze celts,
a dagger and chisel of bronze, as also two bronze arrow-heads and
a shield-boss of the same metal, accompanied by iron remains. At a
place named ‘The Miracles,’ near Monea, Co. Fermanagh, in 1875, a
lake-dwelling, the remains of which Mr. Wakeman had an opportunity
of examining, was discovered by turf-cutters. Here a fairly polished
axe-head, or celt, was turned up, together with a number of articles
composed of bronze, which, from the description given by the people who
had found them, were probably fibulæ. That, during some portion of the
period of its occupation, inhabitants of this crannog were in the habit
of manufacturing objects of iron was evident, as pieces of iron slag,
quantities of wood charcoal, a well-formed crucible, sharpening-stones,
and at least two grinding-stones were found amongst the _débris_. In
the nearly-drained site of Loughavilly, the ‘Loch of the ancient tree,’
near Toppid Mountain, Co. Fermanagh, are the remains of a piled mound,
formerly an island. Here were found a stone celt and lumps of iron
slag. Traces of charcoal were abundant; but, from the softness of the
surroundings, it seemed quite hopeless to penetrate to any extent into
the mud or pulp in quest of discoveries.
Similar cases of ‘finds’ could be multiplied many times; it is
sufficient to state that in nearly every crannog hitherto discovered,
and more or less explored in Ireland, articles formed of flint or
stone, and similar in every respect to remains usually assigned to the
Stone Age, have occurred, and in apparent connection with implements
of bronze and iron. The necessity for the use of stone celts discovered
in the lake-dwellings is not clear; for it is certain that the long
clean cuts which appear on the ends of the pilings or stakes by which
the islands are encircled, could only have been made with sharp
metallic implements of the axe or adze kind. Such objects are very
common in crannog remains; and some have been found furnished with
well-steeled cutting edges, while the remainder of the head consisted
of soft iron. The mortice-holes so often found in the framework of the
islets, and in the larger timbers of the huts, were evidently worked
out by the use of metal chisels, which may have been formed either of
bronze or iron.
The huts of Drumkellin and Kilnamaddo are perhaps among the earliest
remains of lake-habitations yet found within the British Isles; but
whatever claim they may have for classification among the earliest
lake-dwellings of Central Europe, the Irish crannogs, as a whole, seem
to have no such claim. And as regards these huts, ‘the relics,’ as Dr.
Munro says, ‘are too few to justify such a sweeping conclusion as that
these dwellings were constructed at a period when metal implements
were unknown in the country. At any rate, there can be no reasonable
doubt that the period of greatest development of the Scotch and Irish
lake-dwellings was during the Iron Age, and at least as far posterior
to Roman civilization as that of the Swiss Pfahlbauten was anterior to
it.’[121]
* * * * *
_Crannog Pottery._--The remains of fictile ware, discovered in
crannogs, afford an opportunity of comparing the pottery of the
lake-dwelling inhabitants with the urns used for sepulchral purposes,
which are found in the cairns, cists, and tumuli. The fragments found
in the lake-dwellings have been numerous; but, owing to the fragile
nature of the ware, no perfect example has yet been discovered.
They are larger than the cinerary urns and broader at the base. The
shoulders are provided with perforated ears, affording a means of
suspension by leather thong or withe. The colour of this ware varies
from light drab to extremely dark brown, though a few have been found
which were slightly red in appearance. The ornament which they usually
bear is a chevron, or a herring-line pattern, such as are often found
upon fictile ware discovered in sepulchral tumuli, as well as upon
several varieties of bronze celts and other weapons or instruments.
Others have dots and lines; but in general style and finish they are of
a much inferior type to the cinerary urns.
[Illustration: Cooking-Vessel from Lough Eyes, Co. Fermanagh.]
In no single instance has there been discovered a trace on crannog
pottery of what might be called Christian art or design. All the
earthen vessels of this class hitherto found were hand-made, and
appear to have been well burnt. They are invariably unglazed; and in
many examples the action of fire would seem to have been more intense
internally than on the exterior. The material is invariably sandy clay;
possibly the grit was added in order to afford greater consistency to
the paste. Most of the vessels show this sand distinctly; and in the
ruder specimens particles of white stone, occasionally the size of
a small pea, and sometimes no bigger than the head of a pin, may be
noticed roughly projecting from their sides. A number of flat discs of
the same material as the vessels were found with them, which seemed to
have been their covers or lids. A curious provision for the escape of
steam during the process of boiling or cooking is observable in some
of these earthen pots. It consists of a small circular aperture in the
neck or upper side of the vessel, just below the point where the lid
would be supported or caught. It is not possible to determine whether
these vessels, when entire, were invariably perforated or otherwise;
the aperture, however, occurs in some of the specimens preserved.
Vessels which were of this type and exact style of ornamentation
appear to be extremely rare; but they have been discovered in some
districts of North America, and in Indian burial mounds of remote
but unascertained date. The principal sources of this pottery in
Ireland were the crannogs of Ballydoolough, Drumgay, Lough Eyes,
Drumdarragh, and Lankhill, all in the county of Fermanagh; but valuable
specimens have been found at Lisnacroghera, and other places. As these
discoveries were subsequent to the compilation of Wilde’s _Catalogue_,
particulars of this ware do not figure in that work.
[Illustration: Horn Drinking-cup.]
[Illustration: Wooden Mether or Drinking-cup.]
The art of carving designs on bone and wood was largely practised
by the ancient Irish, as many examples on the former material, less
perishable than the latter, found in crannogs and elsewhere, show. They
possessed plenty of timber, and were adepts in manufacturing _Methers_
or _Madders_ (so called from being used in drinking mead or metheglen),
and other household vessels, principally out of alder, oak, yew,
willow, beech, and elm.
* * * * *
[Illustration: ‘Dug Outs,’ or Canoes.]
_Canoes._--Single piece Canoes or ‘dug-outs’ may be divided into
the three following classes: The first are trough-shaped, rounded at
the bottom, and are from 8 to 12 feet in length. Some of these are
furnished at their extremities with handle-like projections by which
they were probably lifted and carried overland from lake to lake, or
from river to river. Some few, instead of having handles, are furnished
at their ends with slits sufficiently large to admit the fingers of
a man’s hand. These indentations or incisions no doubt served the
purpose of the projections referred to. The second are flat-bottomed,
with rounded prow and square stern; they average 20 feet in length and
about 2 feet in breadth. This class varies in depth according to their
state of preservation, while the bottoms of some are rounded and have
both ends square. The third class have a greater length of beam; one
from Lough Owel, in the National Museum, measures 42 feet in length by
from 4 to 5 feet in width. This canoe is shallow, and apparently had 12
holes cut through each side, and about 20 holes through the bottom at
regular intervals; it has unfortunately been sawn across into pieces.
The prow curves upwards, and the bottom is slightly rounded. Many of
the canoes have been found in bogs, apart from known crannog sites,
and in the beds of lakes and rivers. Some fine specimens of these
may be seen in the National Museum. The largest ever discovered in
Ireland has recently been added to the collection. It is hollowed out
of a single trunk, is about 52 feet long, and of great weight. This
remarkable canoe was found at Miltown, near Tuam, and purchased in the
spring of 1902.
Oak paddles, well formed, and measuring about 4 feet in length, often
occur in connexion with the canoes. It is very probable that the
_Currach_ or ‘cot’ formed of basket-work, covered with skin of the cow,
horse, or deer, was in use amongst the lake-dwellers. Owing to the
perishable nature of the materials none of these have been found. That
they were used at an early period in the British Isles is attested by
Roman writers. The primitive willow-ribbed and basket-woven cot, with
water-tight covering, has been used by the fishermen on the Boyne down
to our own day. The canvas-covered skiffs of to-day in Clare, Galway,
the Aran Isles, Mayo, and Donegal are the survivals of a similar type
which have been used by the dwellers on the Atlantic coast from early
times.