Archæological Investigation in the Irish Free State

Abstract

UNDER a scheme of the Irish Free State for the relief of unemployment, in 1935 excavations were carried out on eleven sites, those on five being in continuation of work initiated in 1934. The results for 1935 are summarised by Dr. S. P. O'Riordan of the National Museum of Ireland in Discovery of April. Sites partly examined in 1934 are described first. In a cairn near Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, additional stones carved with spiral ornament were found, with sherds of bronze age pottery and evidence of cremated burials. At Agnaskeagh, Co. Louth, the second of a group of megalithic cairns was examined and evidence again found of association with Early Iron Age. There was a considerable amount of iron and a cremation in a Hallstatt urn against the collapsed slab of a burial chamber. The most important investigation, again producing surprising results, was that of the complicated series of earthworks at Gush, Co. Limerick. Corroboration of the previous season's results, dating ring-forts with souterrains back to Late Bronze Age, was found in the discovery that the fort containing the burials was not the earliest, but had been built later than that adjoining it, and further that occupation had continued over a long period. House sites, not yet clear in all detail, show the plan of a distinctive Irish house-type. At Dun-shaughlin, Co. Meath, a crannog produced evidence of a much larger area for this early Christian site (8-10th centuries) than was previously thought. Enormous quantities of bones of wild and domestic animals were found. The monastic site of Gallon Offaly continued to produce important evidence for the evolution of Irish art. Burial mounds at Lug, near Tullamore, Carrowjames, Co. Mayo, and Pol-lacarragune, Co. Galway, produced interesting material of bronze and iron age date, including what is probably the finest known razor as regards decoration, from the last-named.