CAIRNS,
Rude heaps of stones, composed partly also of earth, forming immense conical heaps, and evidently sepulchral. These are very numerous, and are generally erected on the summits of hills; but, though some of them may be Druidical, the greater part are of later date.
Sir R. C. Hoare considers the Irish Cairn or Carnedd to be of the same origin as the Barrow or Tumulus in various parts of England.
Under the period now treated of we may also enumerate the sculptured stones bearing
which Vallancey describes as ancient Irish, or Indo-Scythian remains. These are found in many parts of the island; one of the most curious of which is at Tory-hill, Co. Kilkenny, inscribed to the God Belus or Baal. They are very numerous in Co. Kerry. These and the ancient Irish Letters have given rise to more controversy than any other subject connected with Hibernian antiquities. In Miss Plumptre's Tour, p. 327 et seq., the curious reader will find much information, with good references to further analysis. Of the remains of the Phœnician era, we may perhaps specify the
one of which, the Ship Temple near Dundalk, is attributed by Vallancey to that people, or else to the sea rovers, Victi, or Picts, who paid divine honours to the form of a ship; but Governor Pownal supposed it to be the work of the Nani, a northern or Scandinavian nation.
That the Phœnicians or Carthaginians must have visited Ireland, is supported by Miss Plumptre upon the ground that amongst the relics of antiquity in possession of the Dublin Society are several heads of axes which were dug up in the south, corresponding exactly with some that have been found in the plain of Cannæ and in Egypt, and which are considered as Carthaginian. This, she adds, seems strongly to corroborate the idea that the Carthaginians, the most adventurous navigators of ancient days, actually traded to Ireland.