Gold Fibula, Trinity College, Dublin.
The fibula here represented is a massive ornament weighing 33 oz., and is the heaviest of its kind yet discovered. It is 8⅜ inches long, and stands 3½ inches high. The external surface of the cups is ornamented with a concentric circle pattern; while the inside edges and the junction of the handle and cups are decorated with a triangular design similar to that on the lunette.
The great interest aroused in the recent discovery of gold ornaments, the possession of which has formed the subject of debate in and out of Parliament, renders a brief reference to them necessary. They were discovered at Broighter, near Limavady Junction, on the Derry and Coleraine Railway line, in a ploughed field not far from the shores of Lough Foyle. This great ‘find’ consists of:—(1) A boat of beaten gold, 7¼ inches long by 3 inches wide, weighing 3 oz. 5 dwts.; it has eight seats, and 15 oars, with other fittings. (2) A bowl also of beaten gold, 3½ inches in diameter, with 4 small rings for suspension, and weighing 1 oz. 5 dwts. 12 grs. (3) Two chains of delicate workmanship, one 14¼ inches long, weighing 2 oz. 7 dwts.; and another 16½ inches, weighing 6 dwts. 12 grs. (4) A small torque, 5 inches diameter, weighing 3 oz. 7 dwts. 9 grs.; and a portion of another weighing 1½ oz. (5) A collar of very remarkable workmanship, and one of the first of the kind ever discovered. A small portion is missing; but when closed, it forms a circle 7½ inches diameter. It consists of a highly decorated hollow tube, 1⅛ inches diameter, formed by two plates soldered together. It is fastened at the ends by a T-shaped projection and slot. The ornament is in repoussé work, in the trumpet pattern of the Late Celtic period, the spaces between being filled with finely engraved lines like the back of a modern watch.
Mr. A. J. Evans had little doubt that the hoard was a thank-offering dedicated by some ancient Irish sea-king, who had escaped from the perils of the waves, to a marine divinity.’ Mr. Robert Cochrane, however, in a scholarly paper, suggests, with more reason for acceptance, that the offering might have been made to one of the neighbouring churches by Aedan, King of the Albanian Scots, who accompanied St. Columba to the Convention of Drum Ceat.[108]
CHAPTER IX.
LAKE-DWELLINGS.
ORIGIN OF LAKE-DWELLINGS—FIRST DISCOVERIES IN IRELAND—DESCRIPTIONS OF CRANNOGS—LAGORE—DRUMKELLIN HUT—LOUGH GUR—CRANNOG ‘FINDS’—BALLINAMORE AND BALLYCONNELL—STROKESTOWN—SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS—SCOTCH CRANNOGS—DISCOVERIES IN ENGLAND—MOYLARG—LAKE STONE-DWELLINGS—ARCHÆOLOGICAL PERIOD OF CRANNOGS—CRANNOG POTTERY—CANOES.
The systematic exploration of lacustrine habitations in the latter half of the nineteenth century has achieved remarkable success; and the results are among the most satisfactory in the whole field of archæological investigation. Water—usually a destructive element—has, in the case of lake-dwellings, so far preserved these remains of early races that we are enabled to learn much of their habits and modes of life, of which we could otherwise glean but little knowledge. Man has at all times familiarised himself with water; and he readily adapts himself to the conditions of dwelling near or upon it, whenever he adopts it as a surrounding for his home. Primitive man saw easily that islands afforded a safe retreat in the great struggle for existence between him and his natural foes—man and beast. In selecting water, where islands did not exist he created them for himself, and brought considerable mechanical skill and ingenuity, and immense labour, to bear upon their construction. To hollow out a log-canoe, and to make an artificial island with trunks of trees, branches, stones, and earth, were but stages, though greatly advanced ones, in the development of human intelligence from its low condition in the cave-dwellers and men of the river-drift. It is evident, however, that these artificial islands had been long used in Europe before they had been adopted in Ireland as dwelling-places.
Many a desolate moorland district, and many a shallow waste of water, throughout Ireland, now showing no other signs of animal life than the wild fowl which frequent them, were at one time the sites of human habitation, industry, and even art of no mean character. A slight elevation on the surface of a bog, some bleached sprays of birch, ash, or sallow, or the appearance of a few grey or white reed-surrounded stones, rising a few inches above the surface of a lough, will often, to the practised eye, indicate the position of a Crannog, by which name lake-dwellings in Ireland are usually designated. It is, however, to turf-cutting operations, or to drainage, that the discovery of the great majority of these interesting sites must be attributed. The term ‘Crannog’ is derived from crann, a tree; but whether it was given originally to the wood used in constructing the island, or to the huts, cannot now be determined.