Fig. 62.—Upper surface of Quernstone from Roughan Lake. One-eighth the real size.
Fig. 63.—Quernstone from Lough Eyes. About one-tenth the real size.
About the year 1839, upon lowering the level of the water for drainage purposes in Roughan lake, near Dungannon, county Tyrone, an island artificially formed was exposed to view. On it were numerous fragments of pottery and bones, a bronze pin, a few bronze spear-heads, together with a quern. The illustration ([fig. 62]) represents the top stone, which is eighteen inches in diameter, and two and a-half inches thick; it is formed of sandstone, the ornamentation being in high relief. The hole or socket for reception of the handle is in one of the arms of the cross, and goes quite through the stone.[111] Portions of a highly decorated quernstone, restored in the accompanying illustration ([fig. 63]), were found in one of the crannogs in Lough Eyes. On “Bone Island,” in the lake of Drumgay, several fragments of quern-stones were collected. Two of those obtained were inscribed with a cross-like ornamentation, one of them presenting a most unusual style of crannog geometrical decoration.
Fig. 64.—Quernstones with Cross and Geometrical Decoration. About one-twelfth the real size.
On pottery at Ballydoolough, a cross pattern was observable, as also on a comparatively modern iron article at Cloonfinlough, and there was in a crannog in Argyleshire a Greek cross, with crosslets as a pattern, or ornamentation, burnt into a piece of oak.[112] The “Croix gammée,” or Swastika, occurs on sculptured stones in Scotland, and appears on a mosaic pavement in the recently discovered Roman villa in the Isle of Wight. In Keller’s Lake Dwellings of Switzerland,[113] a cross within a circle is represented: it was found at Auvernier, and had seemingly been an article of personal adornment. Layard, in his work entitled Nineveh and Babylon, states that he found what is now called the Maltese and Irish cross in such connexion as led him to identify it with the sun. In these ancient sculptures the cross was often inserted within a circle, which, having neither beginning nor end, was considered to be the emblem of eternity, and may be so observed in Assyrian sculptures. Dr. Schliemann, in his Troja (p. 167), gives a representation of a curious copper or bronze ring, about the size of an ordinary napkin ring, but very heavy. It has five compartments, each ornamented with a cross marked by openings cut in the metal. Amongst the whorls found by Dr. Schliemann, numbers are ornamented with
