Fig. 111. Fig. 112. Fig. 113. Fig. 114. Fig. 115. Fig. 116. Fig. 117.
Figs. 115, 116, and 117 are Bone Pins with attached Heads, from the Crannog of Ballinderry.
Plate XXI.
Fig. 118. Fig. 119. Fig. 120.
Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog.
Articles of the Toilet, etc., or of Personal Adornment.—In crannogs, pins form one of the most numerous handicraft “finds;” they are fashioned of bone, wood, bronze, iron, and gold: great variety is observable in their shape and design: indeed there are few articles on which the crannog artificer has bestowed more pains than on these cloak or dress fasteners. At Lagore, pins of bone occurred absolutely in hundreds—the great majority were of very plain character, something like skewers—flat-headed, and perforated with one hole; some of the richer examples were singular in design—their heads presenting grotesque human figures, or carvings of beasts; a few of them terminated in plain bulbs, or in a series of graceful mouldings: but whether in bone, wood, or metal, the designs and style of ornamentation are very varied, and so minute in some instances is the decoration, as only fully to be descried by the aid of a magnifying glass. [Fig. 111], of simple form, is here represented full size; it is ornamented with diagonal lines; the head is perforated, but the ring (if it ever contained one) has disappeared.[124] [Fig. 112], found at Grosses Island, on the Shannon, is large, and dark in colour, it is 9 inches long, and 2½ inches thick at the head: it seems too large to be classed as a mantle pin. [Fig. 113] is of less simple outline. The shank of [fig. 114] is formed like a knife-blade, with a rise near the top, probably intended as a catch to secure it in the garment which it fastened. [Fig. 115] is 3½ inches long, and has an oblong head of bone, with four indentations, one in each corner; it rests upon a shoulder cut in the shank. [Fig. 116], 4½ inches in length, has a circular head 1 inch in diameter. [Fig. 117] is another highly decorated pin, square in the shank, and 5½ inches long, with a looped head, through which is passed a ring. [Fig. 118] ([plate XXI.]) has an acus 4¼ inches long, ornamented with the “dot-and-circle,” and the front of its flat discoid pendant has an inscription of oghamic character surrounding a dot and double circle, enclosed within an ornamented border—