[25] Before this sketch was taken some of the horizontal beams were removed.
[26] In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy are several shears similar to the above, which were found on the crannogs of Dunshaughlin, Clonfinlough, and Strokestown; and in the York Museum there is also a collection of articles of the Early Iron Age and late Celtic period, amongst which I noticed five shears made on the same principle as that from Lochlee.
[27] Colonel Gould Weston, F.S.A., has pointed out that one of these devices is a fylfot (croix gammée or swastika), an ancient symbol which in modern times has called forth a considerable amount of speculative writing. Its occurrence on four Irish monumental stones of the early Christian period has been the occasion of a recent article by the Bishop of Limerick (see Proceed. of Royal Irish Acad. vol. xxvii. part 3). The following extract from a paper, by M. Oscar Montelius, on the Sculptured Rocks of Sweden, is of interest as bearing on this point:—
Fig. 11.
Fig. 12.
"La fréquence de la roue ou du cercle crucifère (Fig. 11) et l'absence totale de la croix gammée (Fig. 12). Toutes deux sont, sans doute, des symboles religieux. La première (Fig. 11) qui se trouve très-souvent sur les monuments de l'âge du bronze, est presque totalement inconnue pendant l'âge du fer. La croix gammée (Fig. 12), au contraire, est très-fréquente pendant ce dernier âge; je ne l'ai jamais vue sur les rochers sculptés dont nous parlons à présent."—Compte-Rendu, Congres Inter. d'Anthrop. et d'Arch. Préhistorique, 7me Session, 1874, Tom. i. pp. 459, 460.
See also Dr. Schliemann's works on the excavations at Troy and Mycenæ, where both these symbols are referred to as of frequent occurrence. In Dr. Schliemann's more recent work on Troy or "Ilios," an interesting account of the meaning and prevalence of this symbol among all nations is given.
It is found on some of the sculptured stones of Scotland. On a slab of greywacke from Craignarget, Gillespie, Glenluce, now deposited in the National Museum, Edinburgh, there is a cross on the upper part, with the sun and moon in the usual position above the arms, and two small crosses underneath, and below them a fylfot or swastika, together with cup-marks and concentric circles and various other devices. (See woodcut page 251, vol. iii. Proceed. Soc. Antiq. Scot., new series.)