At Lagore was found a bronze object, use unknown, [fig. 196]. In one part it is ornamented with a beautiful chased design, once probably enamelled. In the same crannog there was a square iron pipe, 2½ inches in length, to which a long hook was attached.
Fig. 196.—Bronze Object found at Lagore. Full-size.
Fig. 197.—Iron Pipe with Hook, from Lagore. Full-size.
All the articles figured on [plate XXXV.] were found in the crannog of Cloonfinlough, and are now in the British Museum. [No. 1] (one-fourth real size) represents a leaf-shaped dagger, skean, or knife, of an extremely early type; it is a characteristic specimen of its class. Similar weapons have, in Ireland, frequently occurred in company with socketed celts, paalstaves, spear-heads, and other implements of the so-called “Bronze Age.” The handle is very small, perforated for insertion of a rivet, and probably the haft had been originally prolonged by the addition of a piece of bone, horn, or wood, secured to the bronze by means of the rivet. [No. 2] (full-size) is an eo or brooch of bronze of a not unusual design, having a long pin and broad flat ends, with a sunk lozenge in each, filled with a hatched pattern. This form of dress-fastener must have remained unchanged during many ages, for whilst it seems to have been common in the later “Iron period,” it has also occasionally been found under circumstances which point to much earlier days and usages. One example was discovered in a cinerary urn amongst calcined bones. [No. 3] (full-size) is a pin of bronze with a crozier-like termination, ornamented with a series of minute indentations, arranged without any regular pattern. A number of these objects have been discovered in Christian cemeteries in Ireland—as at Clonmacnoise and the Arran Islands. [No. 4] (full-size) is a very small arrow-head of iron; traces of a rivet hole are yet discernible. [No. 5] (one-third real size) is a ring made from the crown of a stag’s horn, and polished on the interior; its use unknown. [No. 6] (one-third real size) represents a double-bladed axe-head; similar implements occurred at Lagore and at Drumdarragh; they belong to the late “Iron period,” and vary greatly in dimensions. [No. 7] (one-third real size) is a single-piece shoe of leather, joined at the heel and toe; at each side is a slit for a thong or strap to be brought over the instep. Articles of this kind were used amongst the Irish down to a very late period. Some specimens, highly decorated in early Celtic style, have been figured by Wilde.
