North-east Ireland Research Articles

Megalithic Tombs in Scotland and Ireland

PROF. GORDON CHILDE‘S present ideas on the Megalithic tombs in Scotland and Ireland are put on record in a paper read before the Glasgow Archaeological Society (Trans., 11; 1947). Recent discoveries have caused him to modify some details of his expose made in the same publication for 1931. No longer, for example, is "the priority of Scottish passage graves over against English or Irish" maintained. The chief discoveries made in the last ten years have been those of no less than seventy horned cairris covering segmented cists in Ulster which, allowing for local differences, can be equated with the tombs of the Clyde and Solway coasts. Beacharra ware occurs in both these series of tombs. Further, it would appear that in Megalithic tomb times, southwest Scotland, north-east Ireland and the Isle of Man formed one province, while central and western Ireland and Scotland north of the Great Glen constituted another. Lastly, Prof. Childe uses the new discoveries to suggest an explanation of the anomalous occurrence of long cairns, horned at both ends, which have been found in northern Scotland.

A Flora of the North-east of Ireland

THE great botanical interest of the flora of A Ireland is due not only to the position of the island as a western outpost of the Eurasian continent, but also to the peculiar elements of which the flora is composedand to the differences shown by the flora and vegetation when these are compared with the botanical features of Great Britain. North-east Ireland is, in some respects, less interesting botanically than the western districts but there are compensating features. The matter is stated thus in the introduction to the work at present under notice: “The position of the area is such that it is removed from the regions occupied by the most marked plant-groups to be found in Ireland—the flora of the south-west and west, with its fascinating admixture of Mediterranean, Pyrenean and North American plants; the Central Plain, with its rich assortment of lime-loving and swamp-loving species; and the south-east and east coasts, which connote the presence of species, mostly of southern facies, favouring sandy and gravelly soils. But as will be seen, certain members of all these groups penetrate into the north-east. On the other hand, asa glance at a map might suggest, the region is rich in plants of Scottish type, which here reach their maximum in the country.” A Flora of the North-east of Ireland Samuel Alexander Stewart Thomas Hughes Corry. Second edition. Flowering Plants, Vascular Cryptogams and Charophytes, by Dr. Robert Lloyd Praeger; Mosses and Liverworts, by William Rutledge Megaw. Pp. lix + 472. (Belfast: The Quota Press, 1938.) 10s. 6d.

Societies and Academies

DublinRoyal Irish Academy, May 23.J. K. CHARLESWORTH: Some observations on the glacial geology of north-east Ireland. The chief theses of this paper are (1) the drumlins of northeast Ireland were fashioned by ice of the last main glaciation; (2) a Carlingford re-advance against the Mourne and Carlingford Mountains and along Carlingford Lough; (3) the southward retreat of the ice along the Main and Lower Bann and its stagnation along its front and in the Lough Neagh area; (4) an Antrim coastal re-advance that blocked the Bann and Lagan and ponded the drainage of the glens of Antrim in a suite of glacier-lakes.

The geology of North-East Ireland: Written for the Summer Field Meeting, 1935

The geology of North-East Ireland: Written for the Summer Field Meeting, 1935

Archæological Investigations in Ireland

DR. O'NEILL HENCKEN, director of the Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland, before leaving for a brief vacation in America, has given an account of the results achieved in the recently completed third year of the Mission's work, which appears in the Observer of December 9. Excavations at Cushenden, Co. Antrim, would seem to have confirmed fully the view of the importance of this site for the elucidation of the origin and affinities of the stone age industries of north-east Ireland, which is held by Mr. C. Blake Whelan, with whom the Mission has been in co operation. Mr. Whelan has recently pointed out the probability that further systematic investigation of stone age sites in this area would provide evidence of stratification, which is lacking for certain of the com parable European industries of the mesolithic and earlier phases of the neolithic ages (see NATURE, Nov. 4, p. 702). From Dr. Hencken's statement, it now seems that this evidence is likely to be forthcoming from Cushenden, when certain comparative studies now in progress have been completed. He states that all the phases of the Irish stone age have been found at Cushenden in conditions, geological and other, which should provide the necessary data for the discussion of the origin of these cultures and their affinities with comparable material from sites in Britain and on the Continent.

Some Littoral Sites of Early Post-Glacial Times Located in North Ireland

In 1931 I described two newly-discovered stone age industries of post-glacial age situated in north-east Ireland which had been made by myself and worked in conjunction with my friend C. Blake Whelan: the one from the Lower Estuarine Clay on Islandmagee, and the other from what is probably a fluviatile gravel intercalated between the Upper and Lower Estuarine Clays in the raised-beach formation at Cushendun.The former of these cultures has its counterpart in the blade industry beneath alluvium in the Orwell Estuary at Ipswich, Suffolk; whilst the latter finds its parallel in the raised-beach at Campbeltown in Argyllshire, Scotland. Adopting the familiar culture-sequence of Central Europe I had previously designated these two groups as phases of the Magdalenian period, but, in order to avoid confusion between the time-periods and the nomenclature of continental cultures, I have decided to base my chronology of the north Irish industries upon the natural changes of climate revealed by a study of the deposits in which they were found. The industries to be described below were contemporary with the Mesolithic Forest Cultures distinguished by Childe and Clark over the plain of northern Europe.

Societies and Academies

LONDON Geological Society June 14. S. I. TOMKEIEFF and C. E. MARSHALL: The Mourne Dyke swarm. This swarm, represented by approximately 130 dykes exposed along the shore between Newcastle and Kilkeel, Co. Down, stands in striking contrast with other dyke swarms of Tertiary age in north-east Ireland. While the dykes of the latter swarms are mainly represented by the crinanitic olivine-basalt types, in the Mourne swarm the olivine-bearing basalts are definitely in the minority, and even so contain only relicts of serpentinised olivine. The Mourne dykes can be classified broadly into four principal groups arranged as follows according to their order of intrusion, namely, olivine-bearing basalts, olivine-free basalts, intermediate types, and acid types. LESLEY S. ROBERTSON: A report on some fossil plants collected in Tanganyika Territory. Certain fossil plants collected by Mr. G. M. Stockley in the Karroo formation of Tanganyika comprise Glossopteris fronds and equisetaceous stems. Among the former are several fragments from the Kidodi area; those with a wide-meshed venation and a clear midrib are identified as Glossopteris conspicua Feistmantel, and those with narrow, elongated meshes are identified as Glossopteris indica Schimper. One fragment with no definite midrib is possibly an intermediate type between Glossopteris and Gangamopteris. The equisetaceous stems are pith-casts in a carbonaceous mica-shale from the Rufiji-Ruaha area. The nodes and ribbing are distinct; as no leaf sheaths are present, the genus cannot be identified.

Implements of Late Magdalenian Age underlying the Raised-Beach at Larne, Co. Antrim

IN July 1930 I made the discovery that the Lower Estuarine Clay of north-east Ireland contains a pene-contemporaneous and well-developed flint industry of Late Magdalenian age. Subsequent investigations in the company of my friend Mr. C. Blake Whelan resulted in the recovery of several hundreds of these artefacts from the two small exposures of Lower Estuarine Clay on the western shore of Island Magee.1 The type specimens, exhibiting a distinctive blue patination, have been fully described and illustrated in my last paper.2

Post-Glacial Prehistory in Ireland

OUR knowledge of the post-glacial prehistory of northern Ireland is summarised by Mr. C. Blake Whelan in a recent communication to the Société Préhistorique francaise (Bull. 1931, 7.8). Although Chellean and Acheulean do not appear, it is possible to find in the gravels of north-east Ireland rare and doubtful specimens which appear to be humanly worked and may be examples of a pre-Mousterian, or even older, culture. The interesting Clactonian station of Rosses Point, Sligo, is an example. Yet up to the present, undoubted evidence of a true Mousterian of the Laufen interval between Wiirm I. and II. appears to be lacking. Man may have retreated southward and not returned until the great glaciations had definitely retreated from Ireland.

II.— Tertiary Ring Structures in Britain

I. INTRODUCTION. The detailed investigation of the Tertiary plutonic districts of Western Scotland, begun by Dr. Harker in Skye, may now be regarded as completed by the researches of Dr. Cockburn1 in remote St. Kilda; and, except for St. Kilda, the main results obtained have been summarized recently by Dr. Thomas in the Geological Survey memoir dealing with Ardnamurchan. With many presentations of its various aspects already in print, it is with some hesitation that I choose for this address a subject connected with Tertiary igneous activity. Yet there remains in the Scottish districts and also farther south, in North-east Ireland, a field for much further research. It is partly on this account that I venture to give to you in brief outline a description of the ring structures met with in each district. For it is in the more definite recognition of these characteristic features that the chief advance in our understanding of the complexes has lain. In part also, my subject is chosen in continuation of the series of accounts of Scottish formations which the Society has published in recent years. In the first place, I shall briefly describe the structural features of each complex in turn, beginning with the relatively simple district of Ardnamurchan. Before doing so, it is necessary to refer to some general aspects of Tertiary igneous activity, and also to indicate the various characteristic forms taken by the intrusive rocks, and the rock-types chiefly met with. The concentration of intrusive activity in certain districts This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

The Evolution and Distribution of the Hand-Axe in North-East Ireland

It has long been recognised that the post-glacial (25-ft.) raised-beach of north-east Ireland contains, in addition to flint implements of Early Neolithic age and aspect, artefacts of Lower Palaeolithic forms. The presence of these early types within this beach may be accounted for as:—1. A recrudescence of earlier forms during Early Neolithic times;2. Lower Palaeolithic artefacts which have been derived from the glacial and inter-glacial drifts of the locality:3. A mixture embraced by categories 1 and 2.The evidence for the determination of this question must be sought outside the beach itself owing to the masking of the surface variations of the specimens through the deposition of a creamy-white patination and through marine attrition, though, regarding the latter, it should be mentioned that glacial striae have been observed upon certain of the implements recovered from the post-glacial (25-ft.) raised-beach at Kilroot.

The Presidential Address for 1931: Early Neanthropic Man and his Relation to the Ice Age

In order to prepare an address calculated to be of general interest to my fellow archæologists, it is essential that it be composed of a variety of ingredients. Now, it so happens that the results I have been obtaining during the course of my investigations in the last few years not only embrace a large number of culture phases, but, when arranged in proper sequence, they form a consecutive narrative. Furthermore, the greater part of the researches I have undertaken relates to those periods in British prehistory concerning which we know least. I refer to the so-called ‘Upper Palæolithic’ and ‘Early Neolithic’ times.It is not my intention to deal in this paper with those inter-glacial and cultural phases which antedate the formation of the Lower Purple Boulder Clay of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and the Lower Chalky Boulder Clay of East Anglia, though I would mention I have recently discovered in the glacial deposits of north-east Ireland specimens similar to those which have been found beneath the Cromer Forest Bed of Norfolk and in the Sub-Crag Detritus Bed of Norfolk and Suffolk. These specimens will be fully described and illustrated in our “Proceedings” at a later date.

Palæolithic Man in North-East Ireland

Palæolithic Man in North-East Ireland

Palæolithic Man in North-East Ireland

DURING our present survey, unavoidably postponed last year, of existing exposures of the glacial series in Northern Ireland, we have found a palaeolithic flake industry in flint, in situ, within undisturbed gravel beneath 21 feet of what appear to be fluvio-glacial deposits. We make this preliminary record in view of the significance of the discovery, which will form the subject of the presidential address to the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia in 1931.

The Petrography of the Triassic Sandstone of North-East Ireland

Between the years 1869–83 the Triassic sandstone of North-East Ireland was examined and mapped by the Geological Survey under the direction of Hull. The rocks were correlated with those of similar age in Lancashire and Cheshire, the lithological characters described and the exposures noted. Later the Belfast district was resurveyed under the direction of Lamplugh, who suggested, in the Memoir published in 1904, that the Triassic sandstone should be correlated with the St. Bees sandstone rather than with that of Lancashire and Cheshire. Attention was also drawn to the probable incorrect mapping of the Trias near Belfast.

I.—The Building up of the North Atlantic Tertiary Volcanic Plateau

It is many years ago since Sir Archibald Geikie pointed out that the Tertiary basalts of the Western Isles of Scotland and North-East Ireland were remnants of plateaux built up of lavas extruded from fissures after the manner described by von Richthofen. In historic times fissure eruptions have taken place in Iceland, and inThe Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britaina chapter is included on “The Modern Volcanoes of Iceland as illustrative of the Tertiary Volcanic History of North-Western Europe” (1, p. 260). Whilst little remains to be added in support of the very definite analogy exhibited in the nature of the lava streams themselves, the equivalent of the thin bands of red rock so typically intercalated in the Tertiary series has not been particularly examined, and I have visited Iceland in order to study the red beds themselves and search for their counterparts in the modern lava deserts.

I.—Geological Survey of Ireland - The Interbasaltic Rocks (Iron-ores and Bauxites) of North-East Ireland. By G. A. J. Cole, S. B. Wilkinson, Alexr. M'Henry, J. R. Kilroe, H. J. Seymour, C. E. Moss, and W. D. Haigh. Dublin: printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Browne & Nolan, Ltd., 1912. 8vo; pp. vi, 129, with 6 plates, 23 text-illustrations, and 2

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V.—Notes on the Fossils of the Silurian Area of North-East Ireland

It would be difficult after the closest investigation to add much to the exhaustive list of species given in the excellent paper on this subject which was read by Mr. Swanston before the Belfast Naturalists Field Club some twenty-five years ago. In that paper reference is made to the classification by the Geological Survey of the rocks of the district, under the general heading of Lower Silurian. Subsequently to the publication of the maps of the area, the information as to the Silurian fauna was greatly extended by the labours of Professor Lapworth and Mr. Swanston, to whom science is so largely indebted. The completion of the one-inch Geological Map of Ireland enabled the revision of work done in the earlier stages of the Survey's existence to be undertaken, and in this revision the North-East Silurians were amongst the first dealt with, and I was detailed to search the most promising localities for fossils, and to zone the beds in which they might occur.