Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1902 — 1.000 YEARS OLD.” [ARTICLE]

1.000 YEARS OLD.”

Dlsoorerr of a Wooden Boat in Ireland at Depth of Sixteen Feet, " A discovery of great archaeological Importance was recently made by a laborer engaged in cutting turf from a bog near Knock Mulltown, County Galway, Ireland. At a depth of sixteen feet he came npon a boat hewn out of a single piece of oak and estimated to be at least 1,000 years old. Notwithstanding Its age, it Is singularly well preserved. In shape it very greatly resembles the present day canoe, only many times the size of that craft in use to-day. It is forty-eight feet long, about three feet wide, and two and onehalf feet deep. The boat looks as though two, or at moist three, men might lift ft, but when weighed shortly after its excavation It drew the beam down to something over two tons, Sir Thomas Esmonde, Bart., has purchased this valuable find for presentation to the Boyal Brttsh academy, where it will hold a place of honer as one of the most valuable of their pieces of antiquity. Archaeologists claim that this boat belongs to the time of the cavedwellers. Experts recognize five classes of craft in the evolution of ships. First comes the primitive raft of the aborigines. then the canoe, crudely hollowed out of a tree trunk; next came canoes of wood stitched together with sinews; then plank boats stiffened with ribs, and finally vessels in which the framework was first set up and the timbers added afterwards. The boat found in Ireland represents the second period. Sir Thomas says: “Some wooden plies were also found near the boat, which may have formed part of the platform or landing place alongside of which it was stored. In the distant ages, to which we may date, this boat, the Mulltown bog must have been a swamp inhabited by lake-dwellers. The country round about must have been comparatively thickly populated, judging from the number of Duns still to be seen on all sides, and judging also from the number of objects of stone and bronze which have been found in»*the locality from time to time. “A very beautiful bronze spearhead o i unusual form and finish was found near the place sometime since. It is now In the collection of Dr. Thomas Costello of Tuam. A bronze dish was also discovered there comparatively recently, but, unfortunately, It has since disapappeared and cannot be*traced. I mention these finds as evidence that the locality of the boat was at one time a populous center, whose people were not without skill as craftsmen.” —Philadelphia Times.