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In the lakes of Ireland alone, no less than forty-six examples of artificial islands, called crannoges, have been discovered. Digby Wyatt, by placing horizontal oak beams at the bottom of the lake, into which oak posts, from 6 to 8 feet high, were mortised, and held together by cross beams, till a circular enclosure was obtained.
Caves, Kitchen-Middings, Lake Stations, "Terremares," Crannoges, Burghs, "Nurhags," "Talayoti," and "Truddhi." The earliest races of men lived in a climate less rigorous than ours, on the shores of wide rivers, in the midst of fertile districts, where fishing and the chase easily supplied all their needs.
It is impossible to come to any decision on the point. Before closing our account of prehistoric buildings surrounded by water, we must say a few words on crannoges though there is the greatest difference of opinion as to their date.
Crannoges are artificial islets raised above the level of certain lakes in Ireland and Scotland by means of a series of layers of earth and stone, and strengthened by piles, some upright, others laid down lengthwise. Wylde counted forty-six in Ireland in his time, some of them of considerable extent.
Similar crannoges are to be seen on the lakes of Kincardine and Forfar, which Troyon thinks date from the Stone age. If he be right, and we should not like to make any assertion one way or the other, the bronze objects and the enamelled glass bowls found near these dwellings prove that they were occupied by several successive generations.
Remains of Mammalia, wild and domesticated. No extinct Species. Chronological Computations of the Date of the Bronze and Stone Periods in Switzerland. Lake-Dwellings, or artificial Islands called "Crannoges," in Ireland.
One serious objection, however, is this: Were the Irish sufficiently advanced in prehistoric times to be able to erect dwellings implying so considerable an amount of civilization? Crannoges are met with in Scotland as well as in Ireland, and excavations in Loch Lee have enabled explorers to make out their mode of construction.
In other places have been found the remains of stockades very intelligently set up in such a manner as to break the force of the shock of the water. To add to the difficulties of dealing with the subject of crannoges, they were successively occupied for many centuries.
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