. Archæology and false antiquities. able for the production of the chaste designs which a con-siderable number of them exhibit was discovered. Let it notfor one moment be imagined that I am desirous of claiming forthe bronze crannog sheaths a degree of antiquity which mustbe assigned to the knife-shaped articles of bone discovered in apagan burial chamber of the period of cremation, as has beenjust noted ; but as an observer and student of early decorativedesign, I fearlessly state that the art exhibited upon the bone 2o8 ARCHEOLOGY AND FALSE ANTIQUITIES remains is absolutely identical with th
. Archæology and false antiquities. able for the production of the chaste designs which a con-siderable number of them exhibit was discovered. Let it notfor one moment be imagined that I am desirous of claiming forthe bronze crannog sheaths a degree of antiquity which mustbe assigned to the knife-shaped articles of bone discovered in apagan burial chamber of the period of cremation, as has beenjust noted ; but as an observer and student of early decorativedesign, I fearlessly state that the art exhibited upon the bone 2o8 ARCHEOLOGY AND FALSE ANTIQUITIES remains is absolutely identical with that which appears uponthe metal.! A more rational explanation of the chronologicalproblem, which so greatly puzzled Mr. Wakeman,would be to bring forward the date of the Loughcrewbone ornaments, so as to harmonise it with that of thebronze sheaths of Lisnacroghera, To accept the formeras products of the art of the period when the pagancemetery on the Loughcrew hills was actually in useseems to me untenable. As already mentioned, the. Fig. 44. Late Celtic Ornament on Bone PlaqueFROM Loughcrew {{) elements of Late Celtic art were not derived from theBronze Age decorations prevalent in the British Isles,of which characteristic specimens are to be seen sculp-tured on nearly all the large stones which enter into theconstruction of the chambers of the Loughcrew sculpturings, although disclosing a great varietyof designs, are rude and roughly executed ; nor is thereany evolutionary connection between them and the Late 1 Journal A. A., 1884, p. 381. THE DISCOVERIES AT LANGBANK 209 Celtic bone ornaments. The only data which, so far asI can see, might suggest such a development are theconcentric circles and spirals of the Bronze Age whichreached Western Europe before the art influences ofHallstatt or La Tene. Although both spirals and con-centric circles are the most common ornaments on bronzeobjects within the Scandinavia archaeological area, yetwe do not find that the
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