In order to complete the enumeration of the lacustrine constructions of Europe, we may state that they have been found in Denmark in the Lake of Maribo, and in England in the county of Norfolk.
With these constructions we must also connect the crannoges or artificial islands of Ireland, the first of which was discovered in 1836 by Sir W. R. Wilde, a member of the Royal Academy of Dublin. Since this date various investigations have been made of these objects, and, at the present time, no less than fifty crannoges have been discovered, distributed among the various counties of Ireland.
Fig. 150.—Vertical Section of a Crannoge in the Ardakillin Lake.
Most of these islets were composed of heaps of stones held together by piles, nearly in the same way as in the ténevières in Switzerland; but the crannoges differ from the latter in being raised above the water. Some of them, however, are formed by a collection of vertical piles and horizontal joists, constituting an external inclosure, and even internal compartments, inside which all kinds of remains were collected. This kind are called stockaded islands. They are generally of an oval or circular shape, and their dimensions are always kept within rather narrow limits. In his work on 'Pre-historic Times,' Sir John Lubbock gives the above sketch of a crannoge in the Ardakillin Lake.
Captain Mudge, of the Royal British Navy, has described a hut which he found at a depth of 16 feet, in the Drumkellin marsh. Its area was about 5 feet square, and its height 10 feet; it included two stories, each about 4½ feet high. The roof was flat, and the hut was surrounded by a fence of piles, doubtless intended to separate it from other adjacent huts, the remains of which are still to be perceived. The whole construction had been executed by means of stone instruments, a fact that was proved by the nature of the cuts that were still visible on some of the pieces of wood. Added to this, a hatchet, a chisel, and an arrow-head, all made of flint, were found on the floor of the cabin, and left no doubt whatever on this point. This, therefore, was in fact a habitation belonging to the Stone Age. Some nuts and a large quantity of broken shells were scattered over the ground. A large flat stone, perforated with a little hole in the middle, was found on the spot; it was probably used to break the nuts by means of round pebbles picked up outside.
From some of these settlements considerable masses of bones have been obtained, which have, alas, been utilised as manure. Sir John Lubbock tells us that the crannoge of Dunshauglin alone has furnished more than 150 cartloads of bones. These bones belong to the following species:—the ox, the pig, the goat, the sheep, the horse, the ass, the dog, the fox, the roe, the fallow-deer, and the great Irish stag, now extinct. If all other proof were wanting, the presence of the remains of this latter animal would be sufficient to indicate that certain crannoges date back to the Stone Age; but as in this case we evidently have to do with the polished-stone epoch, it is also proved that the gigantic antlered stag existed in Ireland at a much later date than on the continent.
Various historical records testify to the fact, that the crannoges were inhabited up to the end of the sixteenth century. They then constituted a kind of fortress, in which petty chiefs braved for a long time the royal power. After the definitive pacification of the country they were completely abandoned.