"A che cosa poteva servire questo oggetto? Era forse un modello per costruire poi una piroga di dimensioni maggiori per utilità pratica? Portata a queste dimensioni, serviva essa al trasporto, o meglio quei congegni erano stati inventati a facilitare la pesca? Volle invece l'artefice sbizzarrire il suo genio inventivo nel costruire un trastullo cosi grazioso? E perchè allora costruirne due di eguali?"

It may be interesting to add that in 1859 a wooden machine, which evidently comes under the same category as the above, was found in a bog in the townland of Coolnaman, parish of Aghadowey, county Derry, Ireland. It is figured in The Ulster Journal of Archæology (vol. vii. p. 165), as an "antique wooden implement," which is thus described by the editor:—

"It was discovered embedded in a solid bank of turf, at a depth of 4 feet from the surface, the bog extending to a great depth underneath. No other article was found near it. It is entirely of wood, and measures as follows:—Extreme length, 3 feet 5 inches; breadth across the centre, 7½ inches; depth, 2½ inches; lid, 14 inches long and 3½ inches broad; under hole, 12¾ inches long and 3½ inches broad. The upper edges have evidently been higher on all sides, when perfect—probably on a level with the lid or small door—or even extending still higher, so as to form a kind of trough. The lid is now somewhat narrower than the opening which it is intended to close, but, no doubt, was made to fit accurately when in use. It moves up and down on a hinge formed by two projections which lie in corresponding hollows, and seems to have been opened and shut by means of a handle inserted into a hole in its centre. These hinges have, no doubt, been kept in their place by some part of the wood above them which is now lost. From each end of the lid and on a level with its upper surface there runs a hollow groove, sloping regularly downwards to the end of the implement, and terminating in a hole which perforates the bottom, seemingly for the discharge of a liquid. Towards each end are two lateral holes placed opposite to each other, one in each lip of the groove, apparently to receive a rope passed through them to serve as a handle for removing the article from place to place. The under side of the implement is flat, having in its centre an oblong hole (the bottom opening of the cavity covered by the lid), which has all its four edges sloped or bevelled.... Coolnaman, which gives name to the townland, is a considerable hill, entirely cultivated, but surrounded at its base by a bog of unknown depth, which evidently occupies the site of an ancient lake. On the side of the hill where the implement was discovered the turf has become quite solidified, and forms a dense black mass up to the surface."

Fig. 47b.—Antique wooden implement from Ireland, showing upper and under surfaces. Length, 3 feet 5 inches.

In looking at [Fig. 47b], which shows the upper and under sides of this implement, it will be at once seen that it differs from the Continental examples only by having one valve or lid closing the central aperture instead of two. Neither the editor nor any of the parties who had examined this curious machine at the time had ever seen anything of the kind before, and no rational explanation of its use has ever since been offered. One thought it was a fishtrap intended to be placed in a river; another, that it was a kind of pump; a third, that it was a machine for making peats; and a fourth, that it was a cheese-press (Ibid., p. 289).

To find so many of these machines, of unknown use and so remarkably similar in structure, in such widely separate districts as Ireland, North Germany, Styria, and Italy, must be a matter of interest to archæologists, and no one can say that the correct explanation of their use is to be found in any of the suggestions hitherto offered on this point. I may mention one element which may help in the solution of this problem, viz. that all the examples from Italy, Laibach, and Ireland were found in bogs that were formerly lakes. Perhaps this is true in regard to those from North Germany, but the point is not referred to in the short notices which have appeared of them. If these machines are really traps they could only be used in water where the animal could insert its head from below, and among amphibious animals the otter and beaver are the only ones to which all the conditions involved in the trap theory could apply.[36]

Organic Remains.—In the report of the investigations for the year 1877 Dr. Deschmann gives the following analysis of the osseous remains collected, which shows the relative frequency of the respective animals:—

Individuals. Individuals.
Sheep, a horned variety147| Wild Boar28
Stag131| Bear18
Beaver52| Bison17
Domestic Ox, with 48 pieces |
 of horn35| Dog16
Goat31| Roe12
Badger31| Wolf2 to 3
Marsh Pig35| Elk3 to 4