CHAPTER IX
Bronze-Age Finds
Plate IX.
Gold Torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter.
p. [80].
One of the greatest difficulties to be contended with in any attempt to arrive at a working chronology for the Prehistoric Period in Ireland is that, though Ireland had a rich Bronze Age, as attested by the magnificent collection of objects preserved in the National Collection, yet in very few cases have any of these objects been found in association. Excavation carried on under scientific supervision was practically unknown in Ireland until quite recent years, and though, no doubt, hoards of associated objects have been discovered in the country, yet trustworthy particulars as to their finding have hardly ever been preserved, and the objects themselves have generally been scattered. Under these circumstances it seemed useful to gather together in the present chapter an account of the finds—unfortunately very few—in which associated objects have been discovered, and of which there is indisputable evidence of their association:—
1. Find of a socketed celt, a gouge, a pin, a razor (the last in a simple leather case), a portion of a woollen garment, an ornament of horse-hair, like a tassel, and some pieces of wood. These objects were found in a bog in the townland of Cromaghs, parish of Armoy, Co. Antrim, in May, 1904, when cutting turf[33] (Fig. [71], nos. 1-5).
2. A find of late Bronze-Age objects discovered in a bog in the townland of Lahardoun, Tulla, Co. Clare, in May, 1861. The find contained the following objects:—two small socketed celts, a disk-headed pin, a plain bronze ring, and a bronze fibula[34] (Fig. [71], nos. 6-10).