JOURNAL or THE COUNfY DONEGAL HISTORICAL' SOCIETY SOME FLINTS IN MR. LOWRY'S COLLECTION Argery, .· near Ballindrait, County of Donegal .By !!------PROFESSOR OWEN DAVIES------ MRI· ANDREW JJOIWRY, J.P., is well known to Donegal archaeologists as an enthusiastic collector of lflints and ·other antiquities, mainly from his immediate neighbourhood. In the summer, 1947, he kindly allowed me to draw some of the most interesting·of his specimefiS, which I present here, along with a short account of the whole collection. ' Nearly all his flints were found in the neighbourhood of his home. Some fine specimens were presented to the National Museum, and have been published by S. P. O'Riordain iri P.R.I.A. XLII c (1935), pp. 147 ff., especially nos. 4, 5, 11-18, 20-23. Since then other finds have been made. Argery Hill is one of a series of isolated hills which extend· towards the River Foyle. In ancient times the estuary co.vered most of the bog-land to the west of it. It is not clear how far the Deele valley was flooded, but most of the land near the Swilly Burn, s'Jutheast of Raphoe, must have been under water. Though Lifford is an early site the present main road thence to Raphoe can hardly have been passable. On the other hand, the road from Kilmonaster across the Deele to Raphoe passes old church sites and may be very ·ancient. There are megaliths between the Deele and Castlefin, and a well-known cairn in Tops, between which and Argery the old road runs. There is high ground again near Raphoe. Thus Argery must have formed a promontory between the Deele valley, which may have been flooded, and an arm of the Foyle which reached nearly as far as Raphoe and is now represented·by the bogs of the Swilly Burn. A site of this type would have been prized by a primitive people interested mainly in pasture and fishing. The high land round Clonleigh old church, to the east, would have been an island. Though no structures and pottery nave been found on Argery Hill, worked rtints are scattered over all parts of it. They must have been imported from afar, the nearest deposits of flint being east of Limavady. There must have been extensive if ephemeral settlement over the whole area. Most of Mr. Lowry's flints belong to that vague class known as scrapers, which are trimmed along one edge or round the nose. They may have been used for cutting, chopping, scraping or other purposes. The majority are ·trimmed along the edge. Some are small circular scrapers, known as buttonscrapers, a type which are commonly found on sandhill-settlements. There are a good many hollow scrapers, believed to have been used for smoothing javelin-shafts. These tools, which are fairly frequent on the sandhills, form the great majority of the early flints at Island MacHugh (Tyrone). There are a few knives and arrows. The last are of every recognised type of the neolithic and bronze ages, lozenge and Ieafshaped, barbed and tanged, and holiowbased". Six of the most interesting have been s;elected for illustration. A-F'ound in 1937 in Lurganshannagh, is of opaque white flint.. There were ftaws at both ·ends, so it may have been reje~ted. The under-side is a flake surface. The bulb is at the bottom end and has been partly removed. The under-side has been partly trimmed along the right-hand edge. The tool was probably' intended as a round-nosed knife. · Maximum thickness, on the keel, .51 in. B. Found in 1926 in Lismontigley, is a long fiake of opaque greyish :flint. The under-side is a flake surface. Maxi119
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